Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market had a solid showing today. The Russell 2000 continued its recent outperformance, jumping 1.6%, bringing its weekly gain to 2.5%. The S&P 500 (+0.5%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%), and Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.8%) settled with solid gains near their highs of the day.

The influential financial sector (+1.2%) played a leadership role today after earnings news from the space received positive responses. Morgan Stanley (MS 119.51, +7.29, +6.5%), First Horizon (FHN 17.39, +0.68, +4.1%), and Synchrony Financial (SYF 56.52, +3.23, +6.1%) are among the standouts in that respect. 

Rebound action in some semiconductor-related names after yesterday's sharp selling also contributed to the upside bias today, along with buy-the-dip interest in other areas of the market. NVIDIA (NVDA 135.72, +4.12, +3.1%) and Broadcom (AVGO 176.82, +0.84, +0.5%) were top performers from the PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX), which settled 0.2% higher.

Many stocks participated in today's advance. Advancers led decliners by a 4-to-1 margin at the NYSE and by a nearly 3-to-1 margin at the Nasdaq. The equal-weighted S&P 500 settled 0.7% higher.

The 10-yr yield settled two basis points lower to 4.02% and the 2-yr yield dropped one basis point to 3.94%.

• Nasdaq Composite: +22.4% YTD
• S&P 500: +22.5% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: +14.8% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +14.3% YTD
• Russell 2000: +12.8% YTD

Reviewing today's economic data:

• Weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index -17.0%; Prior -5.1%
• September Import Prices -0.4%; Prior was revised to -0.2% from 0.8%
• September Import Prices ex-oil 0.1%; Prior was revised to 0.1% from -0.1%
• September Export Prices -0.7%; Prior was revised to -0.9% from -0.7%
• September Export Prices ex-ag. -0.9%; Prior was revised to -0.7% from -0.6%

There's a lot of economic releases to get through tomorrow, including: 

• 08:30 ET: Initial Jobless Claims (Briefing.com consensus 270K; prior 258K) and Continuing Jobless Claims (Prior 1861K); September Retail Sales (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%; prior 0.1%) and Retail Sales Ex-Auto (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%; prior 0.1%); October Philadelphia Fed Index (Briefing.com consensus 4.0; prior 1.7)
• 09:15 ET: September Industrial Production (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%; prior 0.8%) and Capacity Utilization (Briefing.com consensus 77.9%; prior 78.0%)
• 10:00 ET: August Business Inventories (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%; prior 0.4%); October NAHB Housing Market Index (Briefing.com consensus 43; prior 41)
• 10:30 ET: EIA Natural Gas Inventories (Prior +82 bcf)
• 11:00 ET: EIA Crude Oil Inventories (Prior +5.81M)
• 16:00 ET: August Net Long-Term TIC Flows (Prior $135.4B)