Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major indices have been pinned in narrow trading ranges for much of the afternoon session, ebbing and flowing it seems on the behavior of the mega-cap cohort.

Notably, there has been a decent-sized intraday swing in Treasury yields, with today's weaker-than-expected Consumer Confidence Index for September acting as the fulcrum. 

In a curve-steepening trade led by the front end, the 2-yr note yield is down four basis points to 3.55% (having hit 3.61% earlier) and the 10-yr note yield is unchanged at 3.74% (having hit 3.80%) earlier. Stocks have been a little slow to respond to the interest rate movement, partly because they have moved in a big way in recent weeks as rates came down in a big way in anticipation of the Fed starting what is expected to be an aggressive rate cut cycle.

At the same time, any "weak" economic data will engender some concerns that the Fed could be behind the curve in fending off a hard landing for the economy. That thought notwithstanding, the market has continued to show impressive resilience to selling interest.

Earlier, we featured NVIDIA (NVDA 121.33, +5.07, +4.4%) as a key source of support for the broader market, having bounced back sharply from early weakness. We were unaware at the time of a specific news catalyst for the abrupt turn, but CNBC.com is citing a Barron's report that suggests it stems from a recognition that CEO Jensen Huang completed a preplanned stock sale earlier than expected (the implication presumably being that his insider selling won't be viewed as an overhang on the stock, as the preplanned sale was anticipated to be completed by the end of Q1 2025).