Stock Market Update
21-Aug-26 14:30 ET
Materials maintain lead
Dow +482.02
at 53241.23,
Nasdaq +89.52
at 26177.72,
S&P +30.58
at 7671.74
[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.4%) continues hanging onto its modest gain while the Nasdaq (+0.4%) has caught up to the benchmark index after lagging in early trade.
Today's advance has taken place despite relative weakness in top-weighted technology (-0.1%), but other sectors have picked up the slack. Seven sectors trade in the green at this juncture with health care (+1.4%) padding this week's advance to 7.4% while the materials sector (+2.1%) is today's leader, extending its week-to-date gain to 7.0%.
Mining companies like Newmont Corporation (NEM 131.43, +3.79, +2.97%) and Freeport-McMoRan (FCX 76.65, +5.43, +7.62%) have contributed to the recent strength in materials, given the concurrent rally in precious metals. Gold futures (+$110.50, or 2.4%, to $4680.10/ozt) gained more than $100/ozt today, and are now up nearly $600/ozt for the month while silver (+$1.44, +2.1%, to $69.56/ozt) extended its August gain to nearly $12/ozt.
