Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] There's a positive bias in today's trade so far. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sports a 1.5% gain and the Russell 2000 is trading 2.5% higher. The S&P 500 (+0.3%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) are trailing due to losses in mega cap components. 

The overall positive bias today is driven by carryover momentum from last week, which also featured the underperformance of mega cap stocks.

NVIDIA (NVDA 125.87, -2.55, -2.0%), Apple (AAPL 233.49, -0.89, -0.4%), Microsoft (MSFT 448.33, -5.63, -1.2%), Meta Platforms (META 488.95, -7.36, -1.5%), and Broadcom (AVGO 168.32, -3.10, -1.8%) are among the losing standouts in the mega cap space, limiting the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

Bank stocks are showing ongoing strength as earnings reporting continues in the space. Bank of America (BAC 44.21, +2.31, +5.5%), Morgan Stanley (MS 107.31, +2.05, +2.0%), and PNC Financial Services (PNC 176.42, +7.40, +4.4%) all reported quarterly results this morning and reached new 52-week highs today.

The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE) shows a 3.0% gain and the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) trades 3.3% higher. The S&P 500 financial sector is outperforming the index, showing a 1.0% gain. 

Nine sectors are trading higher led by industrials (+2.3%), materials (+1.8%), and consumer discretionary (+1.2%). The health care sector is another top performer, up 1.2%, thanks in part to an earnings-related gain in UnitedHealth (UNH 543.05, +27.68, +5.4%). 

The only sectors trading lower are information technology (-0.7%) and communication services (-0.6%) due to declines in their mega cap constituents. 

Reviewing today's economic data:

• June Retail Sales 0.0% (Briefing.com consensus -0.1%); Prior was revised to 0.3% from 0.1%; June Retail Sales ex-auto 0.4% (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%); Prior was revised to 0.1% from -0.1%
  • The key takeaway from the report is that it conveyed some rather solid levels of discretionary spending on goods in June that belies any hard landing tracking for the economy.
• June Import Prices 0.0%; Prior was revised to -0.3% from -0.4%
• June Import Prices ex-oil 0.2%; Prior -0.3%
• June Export Prices -0.5%; Prior was revised to -0.7% from -0.6%
• June Export Prices ex-ag. -0.6%; Prior -0.8%
• May Business Inventories 0.5% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%); Prior 0.3%
• July NAHB Housing Market Index 42 (Briefing.com consensus 44); Prior 43