Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market ended the session on an upbeat note. The major indices all closed near their highs of the day, which had the S&P 500 closing above 5,500 for the first time and had the Nasdaq Composite at a fresh all-time high. 

The day started more mixed, however, before an increase in buying activity in the afternoon trade. Market breadth was mixed through most of the session, but advancers had a 2-to-1 lead over decliners at the NYSE and an 11-to-10 lead at the Nasdaq by the close.

Some mega cap names outperformed through the entire session, adding to gains in the afternoon trade. Tesla (TSLA 231.26, +21.40, +10.2%) was a standout in that respect, jumping 10% after it reported better-than-expected Q2 delivery numbers. Apple (AAPL 220.27, +3.52, +1.6%), Amazon.com (AMZN 200.00, +2.80, +1.4%), and Microsoft (MSFT 459.28, +2.55, +0.6%) were also among the influential winners, each hitting a 52-week high today.

Many stocks participated in the afternoon improvement. The equal-weighted S&P 500 logged a 0.5% gain and the market-cap weighted S&P 500 rose 0.6%. Only two of the S&P 500 sectors closed with declines -- health care (-0.4%) and energy (-0.2%) -- while the consumer discretionary sector (+1.8%) was propelled to the top of the lineup by gains in TSLA and AMZN.

The drop in market rates following solid losses in Treasuries in recent days acted as support for equities. The 10-yr note yield dropped four basis points to 4.44% and the 2-yr note yield declined three basis points to 4.74%. 

This price action followed comments from Fed Chair Powell at the ECB Forum on Central Banking and a JOLTS - Job Openings Report for May, which showed an increase in openings to 8.140 million from a downwardly revised 7.919 million (from 8.059 million) in April. Mr. Powell reiterated that some significant progress has been made in lowering inflation but that the Fed wants to be more confident inflation is moving down to 2% before loosening its restrictive stance.

• Nasdaq Composite: +20.1% YTD
• S&P 500: +15.5% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: +4.6% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +4.4% YTD
• Russell 2000: +0.3% YTD

There's a slate of economic data tomorrow, including:

• 7:00 ET: Weekly MBA Mortgage Index (prior 0.8%)
• 8:15 ET: June ADP Employment Change (Briefing.com consensus 163,000; prior 152,000)
• 8:30 ET: Weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 235,000; prior 233,000), Continuing Claims (prior 1.839 mln), and May Trade Balance (Briefing.com consensus -$76.0 bln; prior -$74.6 bln)
• 9:45 ET: S&P Global U.S. Services PMI (prior 55.1)
• 10:00 ET: June ISM Non-Manufacturing Index (Briefing.com consensus 52.5%; prior 53.8%) and May Factory Orders (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%; prior 0.7%)
• 10:30 ET: Weekly crude oil inventories (prior +3.59 mln)
• 12:00 ET: Weekly natural gas inventories (prior +52 bcf)