Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] A strong start to today's session saw the S&P 500 (-0.1%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) reach new intraday highs in short order, but a late morning sell-off rescinded the early gains and now seats the major averages in negative territory.

Shares of NVIDIA (NVDA 176.34, -0.41, -0.2%) traded up 1.4% in the early going after headlines that the company purchased 300,000 H20 chips from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM 240.60, -2.15, -0.89%) to satisfy a notable demand in China. After reaching a new all-time high of $179.38 around 11:00 ET, a modest sell-off ensued that coincided with some profit-taking in the broader market. 

The technology sector was up 0.7% this morning but now posts a loss of 0.1%.

The industrials (-1.2%), consumer discretionary (-0.8%), materials (-0.7%), health care (-0.5%), and financials (-0.2%) round out today's declining sectors.

The real estate (+1.5%), utilities (+1.0%), consumer staples (+0.8%), and energy (+0.1%) sectors sport gains, while the communication services sector trades flat.

The outperformance of the utilities and consumer staples sectors amid a retreating technology sector highlights a rotation into more defensive stocks today.

Selling pressure is relatively broad-based and has affected stocks of all sizes.

There is also some selling response in reaction to this morning's earnings reports. UnitedHealth (UNH 268.14, -13.98, -4.9%) and UPS (UPS 91.83, -9.75, -9.6%) trade lower after missing EPS expectations, while Carrier Global (CARR 71.44, -8.74, -10.9%), Boeing (BA 230.10, -6.31, -2.7%), and Merck (MRK 80.67, -3.39, -4.0%) all see declines despite beating their earnings expectations. 

Corning (GLW 62.58, +7.17, +12.9%) and JetBlue Airways (JBLU 4.58, +0.22, +5.1%) both trade higher following their earnings, providing some optimism ahead of an earnings-heavy week that will see several mega-cap tech names report.

However, a lack of developments on the trade front and an only slightly improved consumer confidence report have kept the major averages on a downward course today.

Reviewing today's data:

• The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose to 97.2 in July (Briefing.com consensus 95.5) from an upwardly revised 95.2 (from 93.0) in June. In the same period a year ago, the index stood at 101.9.
  • The key takeaway from the report is that the improvement was driven by an increase in the expectations index, though that index remains below a level that is typically indicative of a recession ahead.
  • The Present Situation Index fell to 131.5 from 133.0.
  • The Expectations Index rose to 74.4 from 69.9, remaining below 80, which is a level that typically signals recession ahead.
  • Average 12-month inflation expectations fell to 5.8% from 5.9%.
• Job openings for June decreased to 7.437 million from a revised 7.712 million (from 7.769 million) in May.
• The FHFA Housing Price Index was down 0.2% in May (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%) after a revised reading of -0.3% (from -0.4%) in April.
• The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index was up 2.8% in May (Briefing.com consensus 3.0%) after increasing 3.4% in April.
• The advance goods trade deficit reached $85.9 bln in June, up from a revised $96.4bln (from $96.66 bln) deficit in May.Advance Retail Inventories were up 0.3% in June after increasing a prior unrevised 0.3% in May, while advance Wholesale Inventories were up 0.3% in June after a prior 0.3% decrease in May.