Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market trades higher, benefitting from carryover momentum following yesterday's rally. Like yesterday, mega caps stocks have underperformed the broader equity market while money rotates into other areas of the market. The market-cap weighted S&P 500 is 0.3% higher and the equal-weighted S&P 500 trades 0.9% higher.

Just about everything is coming along for the upside ride. 23 of the 30 Dow components are higher and eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors trade up. The consumer discretionary (+1.4%), industrial (+1.2%), and consumer staples (+0.9%) sectors lead the pack. The communication services sector (-0.5%) is the worst performer for the second day in a row. 

Losses in Meta Platforms (META 560.18, -2.82, -0.5%) and Alphabet (GOOG 166.91, -2.33, -1.4%), which trades down on a report that Microsoft-backed and ChatGPT owner OpenAI is considering developing its own browser. That would represent a viable competitive threat, but it also provides GOOG with some firepower in its antitrust case with the U.S. Justice Department. 

Names that reported earnings since yesterday's close have garnered mixed responses. Ross Stores (ROST 147.33, +4.37, +3.1%) and Gap (GAP 34.34, +2.30, +10.4%) trade higher after reporting earnings results. Meanwhile, NetApp (NTAP 123.56, -3.12, -2.5%) and Intuit (INTU 650.05, -28.65, -4.2%) are underperforming the broader equity market after reporting earnings.

Names related to Bitcoin are higher across the board as crypto participants wait for Bitcoin to hit the $100,000 milestone, currently at $99,156. Coinbase (COIN 304.33, +9.01, +3.1%) and MicroStrategy (MSTR 439.86, +42.91, +10.9%) are standouts from the space.

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.