Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market opened to broad-based losses that have the S&P 500 (-0.7%), Nasdaq Composite (-1.0%), and DJIA (-0.4%) well beneath their baselines in the early going. 

Losses are once again particularly wide in mega-cap names, with the consumer discretionary (-1.3%), communication services (-1.2%), and information technology (-1.1%) sectors holding the widest losses of the nine retreating S&P 500 sectors. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (-1.0%) holds a similar loss.

In addition to lingering valuation concerns, the market is also responding to a slip in rate cut expectations at the October and December FOMC meetings after a strong batch of economic data before the open.

The probability of a 25-basis point rate cut at the October FOMC meeting now stands at 85.5%, down from 91.9% yesterday, according to the CME FedWatch tool. The probability of an additional 25-basis point rate cut at the December FOMC meeting now stands at 65.1%, down from 73.3% yesterday.

Just released, existing home sales decreased 0.2% month-over-month in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.0 million (Briefing.com consensus 3.99 million) from an unrevised 4.01 million in July.