Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market ended the week on a strong note, with the S&P 500 (+0.5%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%), and DJIA (+0.4%) all capturing fresh intraday and closing records. Gains were powered by outperformance in the mega-cap space, which masked negative breadth at the index level.

Meanwhile, smaller cap indices such as the Russell 2000 (-0.8%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (-0.8%) gave back some of yesterday's gains.

The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF gained 0.8% on the day, while the S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index (flat) underperformed the market-weighted S&P 500 (+0.5%) as decliners outpaced advancers by a roughly 2-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a roughly 3-to-2 ratio on the Nasdaq.

Apple (AAPL 245.50, +7.62, +3.20%) remained a standout in the best-performing information technology sector (+1.2%) following the launch of its iPhone 17 lineup, with reports pointing to strong international demand and the company looking to boost production of its lower-cost model.

Oracle (ORCL 308.81, +12.19, +4.11%) reversed an early decline after President Trump described his call with Chinese President Xi as “productive,” adding “appreciate the TikTok approval.” U.S. and Chinese officials both described the call as productive, though a deal to bring TikTok under U.S. control has yet to be finalized.

Alphabet (GOOG 255.24, +2.91, +1.15%) and Tesla (TSLA 426.07, +9.22, +2.21%) contributed to gains in the communication services (+0.5%) and consumer discretionary (+0.3%) sectors, while the utilities (+0.7%), financials (+0.2%), industrials (+0.2%), and materials (+0.2%) sectors rounded out the seven advancing S&P 500 sectors. 

While sector strength fluctuated throughout the day, only the energy sector (-1.3%) closed with a loss wider than 0.5%.

On the earnings front, FedEx (FDX 231.89, +5.39, +2.38%) captured a nice gain after an earnings beat and upside guidance, while Lennar (LEN 127.32, -5.55, -4.18%) slipped after reporting a miss on revenue expectations. The iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF slipped 1.7% today.

Bolstered rate cut expectations that drove yesterday's push to record highs remained steady today amid a lack of economic data. With the September FOMC meeting now in the rearview, Fed officials were free to add to the policy conversation. Fed Governor Stephan Miran (FOMC voting member) told CNBC he supports five rate cuts this year, arguing growth will improve in the second half, while Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari (FOMC nonvoting member) said in a Bloomberg interview that he favors two more cuts in 2025.

All told, mega-cap strength drove record-setting gains for the major averages despite negative breadth.

U.S. Treasuries ended the week with losses across the curve, deepening their post-FOMC retreat with longer tenors remaining at the forefront of the selling. The 2-year note yield settled up one basis point to 3.58% and the 10-year note yield settled up four basis points to 4.14%.

• Nasdaq Composite: +17.2% YTD
• S&P 500: +13.3% YTD
• Russell 2000: +9.8% YTD
• DJIA: +8.9% YTD
• S&P Mid Cap 400: +5.2% YTD

There was no economic data of note today.