Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (flat), Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%), and DJIA (-0.4%) continue to trade in a mixed fashion. 

The market now has a negative tilt, with only four S&P 500 sectors trading higher and breadth figures that now skew negative.

However, a 0.6% gain in the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF helps limit losses at the index level.  NVIDIA (NVDA 190.93, +3.69, +1.97%) is an early standout, helping the information technology sector (+0.4%) trade higher despite memory storage names giving back most of yesterday's sharp gains

The ISM Services PMI increased to 54.4% in December (Briefing.com consensus 52.2%) from 52.6% in November. The dividing line between expansion and contraction is 50.0%, so the December reading, which was the highest reading for 2025, reflects services sector activity accelerating from the prior month.

The key takeaway from the report is that activity in the services sector accelerated in December to its best level for 2025, accented by the first expansion reading for the employment index since May 2025.

Factory orders decreased 1.3% month-over-month in October (Briefing.com consensus: -1.0%) following a 0.2% increase in September. Excluding transportation, factory orders decreased 0.2% after increasing 0.1% in September. Shipments of manufactured goods inched up 0.1% after declining 0.1% in September.

The key takeaway from the dated report is that it was better than the headline suggests thanks to a pickup in business spending that was reflected in the increase in new orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft.