From Briefing.com: 4:25 pm Closing Market Summary: Equities Move Higher on Monday (:WRAPX) :
The major U.S. indices ended Monday in positive territory with the S&P 500 (+0.5%) and the Nasdaq (+0.5%) eking out record closes. The Dow (+0.4%) finished at tick behind its peers while the Russell 2000 (+0.8%) ended in the lead.
Investors shook off concerns surrounding this weekend's cyber security attack from the jump, pushing the stock market higher at the opening bell. From there, the energy sector carried the S&P 500 to its best mark of the day as crude oil rallied on news that Saudi Arabia and Russia are in favor of extending the original OPEC/non-OPEC supply cut agreement, which was scheduled to end in June, by another nine months. The benchmark index hovered near its session high for a while, but crude oil, and the energy sector, started to fade in the late afternoon, leading to some backtracking in the stock market.
WTI crude finished its day 2.1% higher at $48.86/bbl while the energy group (+0.6%) settled with the materials (+0.8%) and financials (+0.8%) sectors atop the day's leaderboard. Financials' solid performance was a positive signal for the broader market in light of the sector's recent struggles; over the last two months the sector has declined around 5.0%. Other influential sectors like health care (+0.6%) and technology (+0.6%) finished a tick above the broader market.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 126.99, +3.35) underpinned the health care group, jumping 2.7%, after the company's stock was upgraded to 'Overweight' from 'Neutral' at JP Morgan. In the tech group, chipmakers helped keep the sector ahead of the benchmark index, evidenced by the 1.5% increase in the PHLX Semiconductor Index. NVIDIA (NVDA 134.31, +6.42) led the semiconductor advance with a gain of 5.0%, extending its post-earnings rally to 30.5%.
The industrials (+0.5%), consumer staples (+0.4%), utilities (+0.4%), and real estate (+0.3%) sectors finished roughly in line with the broader market while the telecom services (-0.2%) and consumer discretionary (unch) groups lagged. Verizon (VZ 45.38, -0.46) weighed on the telecom services sector, losing 1.0%, amid reports that the company's network suffered outages in major U.S. metro areas on Monday. For its part, the consumer discretionary sector underperformed due to broad weakness within the sector.
Retailers deserve a mention given today's swing in the SPDR S&P 500 Retail ETF (XRT 42.07, -0.06). The XRT started the day solidly higher, adding as much as 1.0%, but sold off in the afternoon ahead of tomorrow morning's earnings reports from Home Depot (HD 157.33, +0.41) and TJX (TJX 76.90, -0.41). The XRT ended Monday with a slim loss of 0.1%
In the bond market, Treasuries ended slightly lower with the 10-yr yield climbing one basis point to 2.34%. Gold ($1,230.10/ozt) added 0.2% while the U.S. Dollar Index (98.81, -0.24) lost 0.2%.
On the data front, investors received May Empire Manufacturing and May Net Long-Term TIC Flows:
The Empire Manufacturing Survey for May declined to -1.0 from the prior month's reading of 5.2. The Briefing.com consensus estimate was pegged at 7.5.
The key takeaway from this report is that manufacturing activity in the New York Fed region slowed in May, which will create a dent in some of the lofty second quarter growth expectations.
Net Long-Term TIC Flows for May were $59.8 billion versus a revised $53.1 billion (from $53.4 billion) for April.
Tomorrow, investors will receive April Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.255 million) and April Industrial Production (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%). The two reports will cross the wires at 8:30 ET and 9:15 ET, respectively.
Nasdaq Composite +14.2% YTD
S&P 500 +7.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +6.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +2.7% YTD
Tech Stocks from Briefing.com
Following the rise in crude oil, a major cyber-attack and the May Empire Manufacturing Survey, the broader market advanced at a healthy clip, ending Monday just off highs. The best performer today, the S&P 500, added 11.42 points (+0.48%) to 2402.32. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite came in second, up 28.44 points (+0.46%) at the close to 6149.67, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 85.33 points (+0.41%) to 20981.94.
As mentioned, the Empire Manufacturing Survey for May declined to -1.0 from the prior month's reading of 5.2.
The Technology (XLK 55.87, +0.31 +0.56%) space finished at highs as all 11 S&P sectors were in the green. Component Cisco Systems (CSCO 34.23, +0.78 +2.33%) was strong today behind an analyst upgrade of the stock to an Overweight rating at Morgan Stanley. The remaining S&P sectors were led by the Materials space XLB +0.87%, followed by XLE +0.78%, XLF +0.76%, XLV +0.65%, XLI +0.47%, XLRE +0.45%, XLU +0.43%, XLP +0.33%, IYZ +0.34%, XLY +0.02%.
In the S&P 500 Information Technology (956.88, +5.31 +0.56%) space, trading closed at an all-time high today. By contrast, component Western Digital (WDC 89.02, -0.63 -0.70%) finished lower as several of its SanDisk subsidiaries have filed arbitration with Toshiba (TOSBF 2.28, +0.07 +3.44%) related to three NAND flash-memory Joint Ventures. The remainder of trading in the space was skewed positive today, including QRVO +5.52%, NVDA +5.02%, NTAP +4.43%, SYMC +3.19%, FSLR +2.28%, ADI +2.01%, AMAT +2.00%, FFIV +1.98%, GPN +1.94%, EA +1.66%.
Other notable news items among sector components:
Pandora Media (P 9.72, -0.10 -1.02%) said to be mulling a possible sale of its Ticketfly unit amid its ongoing search for a buyer, according to Bloomberg.
Xerox (XRX 7.15, +0.10 +1.42%) acquired MT Business Technologies, a multi-brand dealer that provides office equipment, productivity solutions and managed print services to organizations throughout Ohio and South Eastern Michigan; terms not disclosed.
CDK Global (CDK 62.56, +0.58 +0.94%) entered an accelerated share repurchase to purchase $350 million of its common stock.
Accenture (ACN 122.25, +1.29 +1.07%) acquired Media Hive, an e-commerce solutions provider with expertise in cross-channel commerce strategy, custom application development, and the creation of innovative retail experiences for any device.
Upland Software (UPLD 22.25, +0.99 +4.66%) filed for $75 million mixed securities shelf offering.
Vodafone (VOD 27.58, flat) transferred stake of SAFARICOM to Vodacom in exchange for new shares.
Western Digital (WDC) announced several of its SanDisk subsidiaries have filed arbitration with Toshiba (TOSBF) related to three NAND flash-memory JVs.
Allscripts Healthcare (MDRX 12.04, -0.28 -2.27%) named Dennis Olis as Interim CFO.
Priceline (PCLN 1813.81, -4.37 -0.24%) confirmed CFO Daniel Finnegan to retire pending the hiring of his successor.
I.D. Systems (IDSY 6.00, flat) filed for $60 million mixed securities shelf offering.
Vonage (VG 6.74, +0.08 +1.20%) received seven new patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
MuleSoft (MULE 24.09, +2.09 +9.50%) appointed Shay Mowlem as chief marketing officer.
In reaction to quarterly results:
Trivago (TRVG 19.96, +2.13 +11.95%) reported in-line Q1 EPS of EUR0.02 on better than expected revenues of EUR267.6 million.
Digital Ally (DGLY 3.95, -0.20 -4.82%) reported a better than expected Q1 loss of $0.22 per share on revenues which also came in ahead of expectations at $5.23 million.
Sapiens Int'l (SPNS 13.36, +0.75 +5.95%) reported worse than expected Q1 earnings of $0.02 per share on in-line revenues of $56.5 million. The company also reaffirmed FY18 revenue guidance of $265-275 million.
Companies scheduled to report earnings tomorrow morning: CYRN, MGIC, SINA, SSYS, VRTU, WB
Analyst actions:
CSCO was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley,
NTAP was upgraded to Positive from Mixed at OTR Global,
AMTD was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells Fargo,
GWRE was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at BofA/Merrill;
SSYS was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at William Blair,
LVLT and CTL was downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at Raymond James,
XCRA was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel;
ELLI was initiated with a Buy at BofA/Merrill,
MRDX was initiated with a Neutral at BofA/Merrill
