Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market closed with gains across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.6%) jumped more than 200 points while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively. 

It wasn't a straight move higher for the major indices. There was continued volatility today as participants waited on President Trump's tariff announcement after the close. 

The higher finish was related in part to some optimism that the tariffs will be less robust than feared. CNBC reported that a 20% universal tariff is unlikely and there's also some hope that tariffs are still largely being used as a bargaining chip to bring other countries to the negotiating table.

The higher finish in equities was also driven by gains in some mega cap names, along with upside momentum after rebound action in recent sessions. Tesla (TSLA 282.70, +14.24, +5.3%), NVIDIA (NVDA 110.42, +0.27, +0.3%), Apple (AAPL 223.89, +0.70, +0.3%), and Amazon.com (AMZN 196.01, +3.84, +2.0%) were standouts in that respect.

Just about everything came along for the upside ride. Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors registered gains. The consumer discretionary (+2.0%), industrial (+0.9%), and financial (+0.9%) sectors led the charge. 

Treasuries saw an unwinding of safe-haven trading, which also contributed to the positive bias in equities. The 10-yr yield rose four basis points to 4.20%, and the 2-yr yield rose four basis points to 3.90%.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.8% YTD
• S&P 500: -3.6% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: -4.5% YTD
• Russell 2000: -8.3% YTD
• Nasdaq Composite: -8.9% YTD

Reviewing today's economic data:

• Weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index -1.6%; Prior -2.0%
• March ADP Employment Change 155K (Briefing.com consensus 120K); Prior was revised to 84K from 77K
• February Factory Orders 0.6% (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%); Prior was revised to 1.8% from 1.7%
  • The key takeaway from the report is that new orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, which are considered a proxy for business spending, decreased 0.2% despite the headline beat.

Looking ahead to Thursday, market participants receive the following data:

• 8:30 ET: Weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 224,000; prior 224,000), Continuing Claims (prior 1.856 mln), and February Trade Balance (Briefing.com consensus -$121.0 bln; prior -$131.4 bln)
• 10:00 ET: March ISM Services (Briefing.com consensus 53.2%; prior 53.5%)
• 10:30 ET: Weekly natural gas inventories (prior +37 bcf)