Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.4%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%), and DJIA (+0.4%) trade at their best levels of the session, supported by broad-based gains across the market. The Russell 2000 is up 0.3%, and the S&P MidCap 400 is up 0.5%.

Eight S&P 500 sectors trade in positive territory, with the consumer discretionary sector (+1.3%) leading the way due to a healthy early gain in Amazon (AMZN 232.26, +6.27, +2.77%). Only the materials (-0.5%) and utilities (-0.3%) sectors hold losses. The information technology sector is flat, but it had been down as much as 0.6%.

The market received a hefty batch of economic data this morning (ADP, initial and continuing jobless claims, revised Q2 productivity, trade balance, and ISM Services PMI), which, collectively, reinforced the market’s outlook for a September rate cut. Some relatively soft labor market data, which included an uptick in initial claims, a modest 54K increase in ADP payrolls for August, and another sub-50 reading for the ISM Services employment index, served as the lead catalyst in that respect.

September rate cut expectations are holding steady with a 96.6% probability, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Today's earnings news featured results from Salesforce (CRM 241.90, -14.55, -5.67%), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 24.03, +1.21, +5.30%), American Eagle (AEO 18.09, +4.47, +32.83%), Ciena (CIEN 114.12, +19.30, +20.36%), and Figma (FIG 56.17, -11.96, -17.56%). The response to those results has been mixed, with CRM and FIG down sharply, and HPE, AEO, and CIEN up sharply.