Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] There was a negative bias driving the equity market on this quarterly options expiration day. The major indices didn't reflect that at the close, however. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%), S&P 500 (+0.1%) and Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%) closed at their best levels of the session, propelled by a late afternoon surge in the mega caps. 

Apple (AAPL 218.27, +4.17, +2.0%) and Microsoft (MSFT 391.26, +4.42, +1.1%), which make up 13% of the S&P 500 in terms of market cap, were among the top performers. Tesla (TSLA 248.66, +12.40, +5.3%), Meta Platforms (META 596.25, +10.25, +1.8%), and Amazon.com (AMZN 196.21, +1.26, +0.7%) were also standouts from the space. 

Still, many stocks registered declines following disappointing earnings and/or guidance from the likes of FedEx (FDX 230.33, -15.88, -6.5%), NIKE (NKE 67.94, -3.92, -5.5%), Lennar (LEN 115.22, -4.85, -4.0%), and Micron (MU 94.72, -8.28, -8.0%). This piled onto the market's existing concerns about growth, especially how it pertains to earnings prospects.

The equal-weighted S&P 500 closed 0.5% lower and eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed in the red with the real estate (-1.0%) and materials (-1.0%) sectors registering the largest declines.

The materials sector was weighed down in part by shares of Nucor (NUE 122.01, -7.49, -5.8%), which issued an earnings warning for the first quarter along with US Steel (X 40.90, -0.16, -0.4%).

The only sectors to close higher were communication services (+1.0%), consumer discretionary (+0.6%), and technology (+0.5%), reflecting leadership from the mega cap space.

There was no top-tier US economic data today.

Looking ahead to Monday, market participants receive the following economic data: Flash March S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI (prior 52.7) and flash March S&P Global U.S. Services PMI (prior 51.0) at 9:45 ET.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: -1.3% YTD
• S&P 500: -3.6% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: -5.6% YTD
• Russell 2000: -7.8% YTD
• Nasdaq Composite: -7.9% YTD