Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market closed higher, building on this week's gains. Equities benefitted from continued momentum that led the major indices to close with gains ranging from 1.7% to 4.5% since last Friday. As was the case yesterday, large-cap stocks underperformed the broader market, with capital rotating into small and mid-cap stocks, along with other sectors that have trailed mega cap performance.

The market-cap weighted S&P 500 settled 0.4% higher and the equal-weighted S&P 500 closed 0.8% higher. Advancers led decliners by a 3-to-1 margin at the NYSE and by a better than 2-to-1 margin at the Nasdaq. The broad buying activity lift 25 of the 30 Dow components, along with eight of the S&P 500 sectors.

The consumer discretionary sector (+1.2%) exhibited strength amid earnings news from the retail space. Ross Stores (ROST 146.09, +3.13, +2.2% and Gap (GAP 24.87, +2.83, +12.8%), which is not a sector component, closed higher after reporting quarterly results.    

On the flip side, the communication services sector (-0.7%) was among the worst performers today, clipped by Meta Platforms (META 559.14, -3.95, -0.7%) and Alphabet (GOOG 166.57, -2.67, -1.6%). The latter  traded down on a report that Microsoft-backed and ChatGPT owner OpenAI is considering developing its own browser, which would represent a viable competitive threat. 

Shares of companies related to Bitcoin also outperformed the broader equity market, seeing gains as crypto market participants await Bitcoin’s potential move to the $100,000 milestone, with the cryptocurrency reaching $99768 at its high. Coinbase (COIN 304.64, +9.41, +3.2%) and MicroStrategy (MSTR 421.88, +24.60, +6.2%) are notable standouts in the space.

Treasuries settled mixed after another batch of solid economic data. The U.S. S&P Global Services PMI for November showed an acceleration in services sector activity. Manufacturing PMI remained in contraction, but at a slower pace than what was seen in October. The final reading of the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment for November showed a dip to 71.8 from 73.0 in the preliminary reading, but it was still above October's final reading of 70.5.

The 10-yr yield settled two basis points lower at 4.41% and the 2-yr yield settled two basis points higher at 4.37%.

• Nasdaq Composite: +26.6%
• S&P 500: +25.2%
• S&P Midcap 400: +20.1%
• Russell 2000: +18.7%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +17.5%

Reviewing today's economic data:

• November S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI - Prelim 48.8; Prior 48.5
• November S&P Global US Services PMI - Prelim 57.0; Prior 55.0
• November Univ. of Michigan Consumer Sentiment - Final 71.8 (Briefing.com consensus 73.0); Prior 73.0
  • The key takeaway from the report is that consumer sentiment held fairly steady in the wake of the election, albeit with offsetting economic expectations that were aligned with partisan positions.

There is no US economic data of note on Monday.