Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.2%) has extended further into record territory while the S&P 500 (+0.3%) trades about 20 points lower than its all-time closing high. 

Ongoing momentum has supported the positive bias thus far, along with a solid gain in Microsoft (MSFT 439.65, +8.27, +1.9%) following news of a 10% increase to its quarterly dividend and a share buyback authorization up to $60 billion. 

Many stocks are participating in upside moves. The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) shows a 0.2% gain and market breadth is positive. Advancers lead decliners by a 5-to-2 margin at the NYSE and by a 2-to-1 margin at the Nasdaq. 

Separately, total industrial production increased 0.8% month-over-month in August (Briefing.com consensus 0.1%) following a downwardly revised 0.9% decline (from -0.6%) in July. The capacity utilization rate increased to 78.0% (Briefing.com consensus 77.9%) from a downwardly revised 77.4% (from 77.8%) in July. Total industrial production was flat yr/yr while the capacity utilization rate was 1.7 percentage points below its long-run average.

The key takeaway from the report is that industrial production snapped back in August, led by manufacturing output and a near 10% increase in the index of motor vehicles and parts, after being depressed by Hurricane Beryl in July.

Business inventories rose 0.4% in July (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%) following a 0.3% increase in June. 

The NAHB Housing Market Index rose to 41 in September (Briefing.com consensus 41) from 39 in August. 

The 10-yr yield is at 3.65% and the 2-yr yield is at 3.61%.