Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] There was a negative bias in today's session. The S&P 500 (-0.9%), Nasdaq Composite (-1.7%), Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.4%), and Russell 2000 (-1.0%) closed near their lows of the day. 

The selling activity was driven by some normal consolidation interest after a solid run for the major indices. Downside moves were not that extreme, though, leaving the S&P 500 1.7% off its all-time high. Also, the equal-weighted S&P 500 declined only 0.3% today. 

Losses in mega caps and semiconductor-related shares had an outsized impact on index moves. The PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) registered a 3.4% loss and the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK) fell 1.5%.

This price action led the heavily-weighted information technology sector (-2.1%) to log the biggest decline among the S&P 500 sectors. The next worst performing sector was consumer discretionary (-1.9%). The only sectors to close higher were the real estate (+0.6%), financials (+0.5%), energy (+0.3%) sectors. 

Today's economic data didn't garner a big response from stocks. The lineup featured some slightly worse than expected initial jobless claims, some weaker than expected preliminary manufacturing PMI data for August, some stronger than expected preliminary Services PMI data for August, and some better than expected existing home sales for July, which were up 1.3% month-over-month but still down 2.5% year-over-year.

Friday's economic lineup is limited to the July New Home Sales report at 10:00 ET. Tomorrow's headline event is Fed Chair Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

The 10-yr note yield settled eight basis points higher at 3.86% and the 2-yr note yield settled nine basis points higher at 4.01%.

• Nasdaq Composite: +17.4% YTD
• S&P 500: +16.8% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: +8.9% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +8.0% YTD
• Russell 2000: +6.1% YTD