Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] It was a somewhat lackluster session. The major indices mostly traded around their prior closing levels. The Russell 2000 outperformed other indices, settling 0.9% higher, reflecting some speculative buying interest in a thinly-traded market after the holiday break. 

Choppy action in some mega cap names contributed to the mixed moves in the three major indices. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) traded up as much as 0.1% at its session high and as down as much as 0.7% at its low.

The price action in the S&P 500 sectors was muted and none of the sectors moved more than 0.6% in either direction. The financial (+0.2%) and health care (+0.2%) sectors were the top performers and the consumer discretionary sector logged the largest decline, dropping 0.6%.

Market rates were already elevated and selling picked up in response to the better-than-expected initial jobless claims report. Weekly initial jobless claims for the week ending December 21 checked in at a lower than expected 219,000 (Briefing.com consensus 232,000) while continuing jobless claims for the week ending December 14 hit their highest (1.910 million) since November 13, 2021.

Treasuries ultimately settled with gains, though, after the $44 billion 7-yr note auction at 1:00 p.m. ET was met with strong dollar demand and interest from indirect bidders. The 10-yr yield hit 4.64% shortly after the jobs data, but settled one basis point lower than Tuesday at 4.58%. 

• Nasdaq Composite: +33.4% YTD
• S&P 500: +26.6% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +15.0% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: +13.9% YTD
• Russell 2000: +12.5% YTD

Reviewing today's economic data:

• Weekly Initial Claims 219K (Briefing.com consensus 232K); Prior 220K, Weekly Continuing Claims 1.910 mln; Prior was revised to 1.864 mln from 1.874 mln
  • The key takeaway from the report is that layoff activity is low; however, if one loses their job, it is becoming more challenging to find a new position.

Looking ahead to Friday, market participants receive the following economic data: 

• 08:30 ET: November Adv. Intl. Trade in Goods (prior -$99.1B), Adv. Retail Inventories (prior 0.1%), and Adv. Wholesale Inventories (0.2%)
• 10:30 ET: EIA Natural Gas Inventories (prior -125 bcf)
• 13:00 ET: EIA Crude oil Inventories (prior -0.934M)