Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.1%) and Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) moved further into record territory. There wasn't a lot of conviction behind the upside moves, which were driven largely by mega cap gains, and the overall vibe in the market was more negative. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.2%) settled slightly lower than yesterday while the Russell 2000 underperformed, dropping 0.7%.

Apple (AAPL 242.65, +3.06, +1.3%) and Meta Platforms (META 613.65, +20.82, +3.5%), which hit fresh 52-week highs, were top performers from the mega cap space, along with Amazon.com (AMZN 213.44, +2.73, +1.3%), NVIDIA (NVDA 140.26, +1.63, +1.2%), and Eli Lilly (LLY 813.33, +13.53, +1.7%).

Tesla (TSLA 351.42, -5.67, -1.6%) lagged its mega cap peers, settling lower in response to CEO Elon Musk's pay package getting rejected by a Delaware judge, according to Bloomberg, and after China-produced electric vehicle sales fell 4.3% in November, according to Reuters.

Gains in some of the aforementioned names propelled their respective S&P 500 sectors to close higher. The communication services (+1.1%), information technology (+0.6%), and consumer discretionary (+0.1%) sectors were alone in the green at the close while the remaining eight sectors registered losses ranging from 0.1% to 0.9%. 

Treasuries settled mixed, keeping buying in check in equities. The 10-yr yield, which hit 4.17% earlier, settled three basis points higher than yesterday at 4.22%. The increase in selling followed the JOLTS - Job openings report, which totaled 7.744 million in October, up from a revised count of 7.372 million in September (from 7.443 million). The 2-yr yield declined three basis points to 4.17%. 

• Nasdaq Composite: +29.8%
• S&P 500: +26.8%
• S&P Midcap 400: +20.4%
• Russell 2000: +19.2%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +18.6%

Wednesday's calendar features the following economic data: 

• 7:00 ET: Weekly MBA Mortgage Index (prior 6.3%)
• 8:15 ET: November ADP Employment Change (Briefing.com consensus 170,000; prior 233,000)
• 10:00 ET: November ISM Non-Manufacturing Index (Briefing.com consensus 55.5%; prior 56.0%)
• 10:30 ET: Weekly crude oil inventories (prior -1.84 mln)