Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market was in rally-mode after the open, and Treasury yields moved lower, in response to news that President-elect Trump nominated Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary. Opening moves higher led the S&P 500 hit a new all-time high at 6020.75 due to the belief that Mr. Bessent is a "market-friendly" choice.

The major indices have pulled back from session highs, though, on emerging selling interest in the mega cap space. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite trade just above prior closing levels. NVIDIA (NVDA 137.53, -4.40, -3.1%), Tesla (TSLA 349.55, -3.03, -0.9%), and Microsoft (MSFT 416.46, -0.61, -0.2%) are standouts in that respect, clipped by profit-taking after big gains this year.

Treasuries remain near intraday low yields due to the notion that Mr. Bessent will be an advocate for taming deficit spending and introducing tariffs in a more gradual manner that tempers inflation risk. The 10-yr yield is down 12 basis points to 4.28% and the 2-yr yield is down eight basis points to 4.29%.

Discretionary-related stocks are favored so far in today's trade. The S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector shows a 1.5% gain with retailers and homebuilders showing outsized moves. The SPDR S&P Retailer ETF (XRT) is up 4.2% and the SPDR S&P Homebuilder ETF (XHB) shows a 4.6% gain.

There was no US economic data of note.