Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market opened to losses. The S&P 500 is 1.3% lower and the Nasdaq Composite shows a 2.1% decline. NVIDIA (NVDA 105.40, -6.79, -6.0%) shares have an outsized impact on performance after announcing that it will take a $5.5 billion charge related to H20 export restrictions for China.

Total industrial production decreased 0.3% month-over-month in March (Briefing.com consensus -0.3%) following an upwardly revised 0.8% increase (from 0.7%) in February. The capacity utilization rate fell to 77.8% (Briefing.com consensus 77.9%) from 78.2% in February. Total industrial production increased 1.3% yr/yr while the capacity utilization rate was 1.8 percentage points below its long-run average.

The key takeaway from the report is that the large decline in the output of utilities overshadowed the increase in manufacturing output and mining output, so the headline decline isn't as bad as it looks at first blush.

Business inventories rose 0.2% in February (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%).

The NAHB Housing Market Index rose to 40 in April (Briefing.com consensus 39).