Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market lacked excitement today, likely because it was gearing up for the excitement that promises to follow the trade meeting this weekend between U.S. and Chinese officials in Switzerland. The excitement could have either a positive connotation or a negative connotation. It will all depend on what comes out of that meeting.

There is a baseline expectation that there will be some form of de-escalation that is agreed to on the tariff front, so it would be a profound disappointment if the takeaway from this confab is no change in the draconian tariff rates each side has implemented (145% by the U.S. and 125% by China).

Press reports have suggested the Trump administration is considering a tariff rate of 60% or less to get things going here, yet President Trump wrote in a Truth Social Post before today's open that "80% tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B."

Scott B. would be Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will be joined by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to discuss the U.S. position with China's Vice Premier He Lifeng.

The anxiousness ahead of the meeting kept the stock market in check today. There was no real conviction on the part of buyers or sellers, as this macro item overshadowed all of the earnings results since yesterday's close that included reports from the likes of Expedia (EXPE 156.66, -12.33, -7.3%), Coinbase (COIN 199.32, -7.18, -3.5%), Akamai Technologies (AKAM 76.25, -9.19, -10.8%), Cloudflare (NET 132.51, +8.20, +6.6%), Microchip Technology (MCHP 55.33, +6.19, +12.6%), and Lyft (LYFT 16.65, +3.65, +28.1%).

As one can see, there were ample and mixed reactions to these individual reports, yet the major indices had their thinking caps and price caps on ahead of the weekend trade meeting.

Seven S&P 500 sectors finished higher with gains ranging from 0.04% to 1.1%, three sectors finished lower with losses ranging from 0.6% to 1.1%, and one sector -- information technology -- finished unchanged. The biggest winner was the energy sector (+1.1%) and the biggest loser was the health care (-1.1%) sector.

Market breadth reflected the mixed disposition. Advancers led decliners by a 5-to-3 margin at the NYSE, while decliners led advancers by an 11-to-10 margin at the Nasdaq.

There was no U.S. economic data of note today.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: -3.1% YTD
• S&P 500: -3.8% YTD
• S&P Midcap 400: -5.6% YTD
• Nasdaq Composite: -7.2% YTD
• Russell 2000: -9.3% YTD