Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market has advanced in broad fashion, with the S&P 500 (+0.9%), Nasdaq Composite (+1.0%), and DJIA (+0.9%) trading steadily higher amid a relatively uneventful session. 

Participation is once again broad today, with nine S&P 500 sectors trading higher. The major averages benefit from solid leadership from the top-weighted information technology sector (+1.7%) after the sector finished flat yesterday as some prominent chipmaker names faced weakness.

In particular, NVIDIA (NVDA 181.28, +3.46, +1.95%) closed with a loss after a report that Alphabet (GOOG 318.69, -4.95, -1.53%) wants to compete in the AI chip space. NVIDIA has rebounded nicely today, pushing the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+2.8%) higher. 

Alphabet, for its part, has faced some profit-taking in today's trade, which is unsurprising given the stock has been on an impressive run that leaves it up 13.2% for the month despite today's weakness. 

The communication services sector (-0.6%) is one of just two sectors to currently hold a loss, the other being the health care sector (-0.1%), which has also outperformed as of recent. 

The current sector strength standings reflect how the market has traded for the bulk of today's session. Advancers outpace decliners by a nearly 4-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a nearly 2-to-1 clip on the Nasdaq. 

On the earnings front, Dell (DELL 134.54, +8.62, +6.85%) trades sharply higher after its largest EPS beat in three quarters, adding to positive sentiment in the technology sector, while Workday (WDAY 213.65, -20.04, -8.58%), Zscaler (ZS 259.18, -30.55, -10.54%), and Deere (DE 474.97, -23.16, -4.65%) all move lower after earnings. 

Aside from the small batch of earnings reports, the market has been largely devoid of catalysts in today's trade, which has allowed the major averages to continue to build on recent strength that followed a substantial uptick in the market's expectations for a December rate cut. Today's batch of economic data had little effect on those expectations, with the CME FedWatch Tool assigning an 82.7% probability to a December rate cut, down slightly from 85.2% yesterday. 

Reviewing today's data:

• Initial jobless claims for the week ending November 22 decreased by 6,000 to 216,000 (Briefing.com consensus: 225,000). That is the lowest level of initial claims since April. Continuing jobless claims for the week ending November 15 increased by 7,000 to 1.960 million.
  • The key takeaway from the report is that initial claims filings are nowhere close to a recession-type level and continue to reflect a generally low-firing environment.
• Durable goods orders increased 0.5% month-over-month in September (Briefing.com consensus: 0.3%) following an upwardly revised 3.0% increase (from 2.9%) in August. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders rose 0.6% (Briefing.com consensus: 0.2%) following an upwardly revised 0.5% increase (from 0.4%) in August.
  • The key takeaway from the report is that business spending, viewed through the lens of nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft (+0.9%), showed no signs of slowing, keeping pace with the 0.9% increase seen in August and exceeding the 0.7% growth rate in July.
• The November Chicago PMI retracted to 36.3 (Briefing.com consensus 44.5) from a prior reading of 43.8.
• The MBA Mortgage Applications Index for the week ended November 22 increased 0.2%, from a prior decrease of 5.2%.