Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market continued this winning week with another solid move higher. The S&P 500 (+0.8%), Nasdaq Composite (+1.0%), Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.6%), and Russell 2000 (+1.1%) settled near their best levels of the session.

Upside momentum was a support factor in today's trade, along with ongoing buying in NVIDIA (NVDA 119.14, +2.24, +1.9%), which is nearly 16% higher than Friday's close. 

Many stocks participated in today's climb. 23 of the 30 Dow components settled higher and all 11 S&P 500 sectors registered gains. The communication services (+2.0%) and consumer discretionary (+1.2%) sectors were the top performers, boosted by gains in their mega cap constituents. 

The energy sector was the next best performer, responding to rising commodity prices. WTI crude oil futures rose 2.5% to $68.97/bbl and natural gas futures settled 4.0% higher at $2.36/mmbtu.

The rate-sensitive real estate sector (+0.1%) logged the slimmest gain as market rates moved up slightly. The 10-yr note yield settled three basis points higher at 3.68% and the 2-yr note yield was unchanged for the day at 3.65%. On a related note, today's $22 billion 30-yr bond sale was met with soft demand.

Today's economic releases didn't garner a big reaction from stocks or bonds. Initial jobless claims were little changed and remain below recession-like levels at 230,000 and the August Producer Price Index reflected moderating inflation at the wholesale level.

• S&P 500: +17.3% YTD
• Nasdaq Composite: +17.0% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +9.0% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: +7.3% YTD
• Russell 2000: +5.1% YTD

Reviewing today's economic data:

• Weekly Initial Claims 230K (Briefing.com consensus of 229K); Prior was revised to 228K from 227K, Weekly Continuing Claims 1.850 mln; Prior was revised to 1.845 mln from 1.838 mln
  • The key takeaway from the report is that initial jobless claims remained fairly steady, underscoring the point that the labor market isn't suffering a material and rapid erosion that would challenge the soft landing view.
• August PPI 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus of 0.2%); Prior was revised to 0.0% from 0.1%, August Core PPI 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%); Prior was revised to -0.2% from 0.0%
  • The key takeaway from the report is the recognition that inflation at the wholesale level is moderating, which lessens concerns about heightened pass-through pressures to the consumer.
• August Treasury Budget -$380.1 bln; Prior -$243.7 bln
  • The key takeaway from the report is that the U.S. government continues to run large budget deficits, which necessitates a large amount of Treasury issuance for government funding.

Friday's calendar includes:

• 8:30 ET: August Import Prices (prior 0.1%), Import Prices ex-oil (prior 0.1%), Export Prices (prior 0.7%), and Export Prices ex-agriculture (prior 1.0%)
• 10:00 ET: Final September University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment (prior 67.9)