Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages sport solid midday gains with the Nasdaq (+1.1%) and S&P 500 (+0.7%) trailing the Russell 2000 (+1.6%) after a steady rise through the first half of today's session.

The market started the day in flat fashion after overnight trade featured the release of China's first contractionary reading of the Caixin Manufacturing PMI in eight months and news that the OECD lowered its global growth forecast for 2025 to 2.9% from 3.1%, cutting the outlook for the U.S. to 1.6% from 2.2%.

Equities have climbed through the first half of today's session even though Treasuries have headed in the opposite direction, reversing their early gains. The 10-yr yield is now up one basis point at 4.47% after marking a low at 4.41% immediately after the cash start.

Eight sectors trade higher at midday with energy (+1.6%) continuing yesterday's outperformance with help from a $1.06, or 1.7%, rise in crude oil to $63.58/bbl. Top-weighted technology (+1.5%) is right on energy's heels, followed by the consumer discretionary sector (+1.2%).

Chipmakers have been at the forefront of the rally in technology with Super Micro Computer (SMCI 43.33, +2.13, +5.2%) leading the sector higher while the PHLX Semiconductor Index is up 2.6%. The overall sector has received some encouragement from a solid quarterly report and strong guidance from Credo Technology Group (CRDO 74.10, +11.45, +18.3%), which has jumped to its best level in nearly four months.

On the downside, real estate (-0.5%), consumer staples (-0.6%), and communication services (-0.1%) trade in the red, but they have recovered some of their losses alongside the market's rise off opening lows.

Today's economic data included April job openings, which increased to 7.391 million from a revised 7.200 million (from 7.192 million) in March, and the April Factory Orders, which declined 3.7% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus -3.1%) following a downwardly revised 3.4% increase (from 4.3%) in March. Excluding transportation, factory orders declined 0.5% for the second straight month. Shipments of manufactured goods dropped 0.3% on the heels of a 0.2% decline in March. The key takeaway from the report is that April activity was devoid of strength, with declines in durable goods orders, nondurable goods orders, and business spending.