Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The DJIA (+1.1%) joined the S&P 500 (+0.5%) and Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%) in record territory this week, with this morning's gains resulting in fresh record highs for all three indices. 

Today's broad-based advance also has the Russell 2000 (+1.5%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (+0.7%) trading higher throughout the course of the session. 

Nine S&P 500 sectors trade in positive territory, with seven holding gains of 0.5% or wider. 

The utilities sector (+1.9%) leads the way, supported by all of its components trading higher and a nice gain in its largest constituent, NextEra Energy (NEE 81.02, +2.84, +3.64%). 

In this week's top-performing health care sector (+1.4%), Humana's (HUM 278.20, +21.58, +8.41%) announcement yesterday of Medicare updates and reaffirmed FY25 guidance continues to boost managed care names today. 

This week's worst-performing sector, the energy sector (+1.0%), also trades higher today, as the price of oil has increased $0.61 to $61.09 per barrel (+1.0%) after several consecutive days of moving lower. 

Only the consumer discretionary (-0.4%) and communication services (-0.2%) sectors hold losses as they face pressure in several of their mega-cap names. 

While the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (+0.1%) holds a slight gain (largely by way of a modest 0.2% gain in the information technology sector), the market's largest names are not making an outsized contribution to the index-level advance. The S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index (+0.8%) outperforms the market-weighted S&P 500 (+0.5%).

The market did not receive the September Employment Situation Report this morning amid the ongoing government shutdown, though today's push further into record territory reiterates the notion that the market was never truly concerned with the shutdown.

Additionally, rate cut expectations through the end of the year have held steady after a significant boost on the heels of Wednesday's weaker-than-expected ADP Payrolls Report. 

However, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee (FOMC voting member) told CNBC that despite weakness in the labor market, he is leery of frontloading a series of rate cuts, adding that what the market expects is not the Fed's mandate. 

In other Fed commentary, Fed Governor Stephen Miran (FOMC voting member) said a housing shock could shift his benign inflation outlook, according to Bloomberg.

For the time being, the market's expectations for near-term easing are cemented, providing an additional tailwind to a sustained push deeper into record territory.

Reviewing today's economic data:

• September S&P Global U.S. Services PMI - Final 54.2; Prior 53.9
• September ISM Services 50.0% (Briefing.com consensus 51.7%); Prior 52.0%
  • The key takeaway from the report is that it carries some stagflation messaging for the nation's largest business sector: no growth, contracting employment, and higher inflation.