Stock Market Update

The stock market is on track for a higher open as the major averages look to stop a recent skid that has seen the S&P 500 close lower for four straight sessions. 

Mega-cap tech is mixed in the premarket, with NVIDIA (NVDA 184.77, +3.41, +1.9%) and Tesla (TSLA 405.12, +3.87, +1.0%) outperforming. 

While sector strength was a nearly even split yesterday, and breadth figures leaned positive, weakness across mega-cap names prompted another day of index-level losses. 

The trade deficit was $59.6 billion in August (Briefing.com consensus: -$61.0 billion) versus an upwardly revised $78.2 billion (from $78.3 billion) in July. That was the result of exports being $0.2 billion more than July exports and imports being $18.4 billion less than July imports.

The key takeaway from the report is that it will factor favorably into the Q3 GDP report, given the positive contribution from the net export component. Of course, this report isn't as pertinent now, seeing that we are in the latter half of November, or well into Q4, and the updated trade data is a few months behind schedule due to the government shutdown.

(Editor's note: The original comment incorrectly identified the July trade deficit as being $60.2 billion. That was the original June deficit. The comment has been corrected to incorporate the correct amount for the July trade deficit.)