Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] There's a positive bias in today's trade. Fed Chair Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium supported the market's view that rate cuts are imminent, which has fueled recent equity gains. Mr. Powell said "the time has come for policy to adjust," adding that "downside risks to employment have increased."

Still, just about everything is trading higher.  Advancers lead decliners by a 10-to-1 margin at the NYSE and by a 4-to-1 margin at the Nasdaq. Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors show gains and the equal-weighted S&P 500 trades 1.0% higher.

The major indices hit session lows recently as some mega cap names turned lower. Meta Platforms (META 528.30, -3.66, -0.7%), Amazon.com (AMZN 175.88, -0.24, -0.2%), Eli Lilly (LLY 944.22, -9.95, -1.0%), and Microsoft (MSFT 413.06, -2.49, -0.6%) are standouts in that respect.

Strength in the semiconductor space has provided some offsetting support to the broader, leading the PHLX Semiconductor Index to trade 2.0% higher. 

The S&P 500 real estate sector is also showing relative strength, trading 1.6% higher. The next best performing sectors are energy (+1.6%) and consumer discretionary (+1.1%). The consumer staples sector, meanwhile, sits alone in negative territory, down 0.3%.

The upside bias today also follows a stronger than expected new home sales report for July. Treasury yields moved sharply higher in response to the data and Fed Chair Powell's comments. The 2-yr note yield is down eight basis points to 3.93%.

Reviewing today's economic data:

• New home sales surged 10.6% month-over-month in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 739,000 units (Briefing.com consensus 628,000) from an upwardly revised 668,000 (from 617,000) in June. On a year-over-year basis, new home sales were up 5.6%.
  • The key takeaway from the report is that new home sales, which are tabulated when contracts are signed, saw an encouraging jump in July that coincided with mortgage rates coming down.