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Financials Pace Third Consecutive Record Finish
04-Jan-18 16:25 ET
Dow +152.45 at 25075.13, Nasdaq +12.38 at 7077.91, S&P +10.93 at 2723.97

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2018/1/4/financials-pace-third-consecutive-record-finish.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks advanced to new records for the third session in a row on Thursday, keeping their perfect 2018 record intact.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.6% to 25075.13, the S&P 500 jumped 0.4% to 2723.99, and the Nasdaq Composite ticked up 0.2% to 7077.91. All three stock indices finished at new all-time highs with the Dow crossing the 25000 mark for the first time. The Russell 2000 also notched a new record, rising 0.2% to 1555.72.

After opening modestly above Wednesday's closing levels, the equity market kept pretty steady through the closing bell.

Nine of eleven sectors advanced on Thursday with gains ranging between 0.1% and 0.9%. The heavily-weighted financial sector (+0.9%) was the top-performing group after trailing the broader market through the first two sessions of the new year. Lenders like JPMorgan Chase (JPM 109.04, +1.54), Bank of America (BAC 30.19, +0.39), Wells Fargo (WFC 62.33, +0.77), and Citigroup (C 75.51, +0.92) added more than 1.0% apiece.

Meanwhile, the energy sector managed to tack on another 0.6%, bringing its 2018 gain to 4.0%, as crude oil extended its three-week rally. West Texas Intermediate crude futures advanced to a fresh three-year high, jumping 0.6% to $61.97 per barrel. Crude futures benefited from the Department of Energy's weekly inventory report, which showed that U.S. crude stockpiles declined by 7.4 million barrels last week--nearly 3 million barrels more than estimates had predicted.

On the downside, the health care sector underperformed, adding just 0.1%, as biotechnology shares gave back a portion of gains registered earlier in the week; the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 109.97, -0.91) lost 0.8%, trimming its week-to-date gain to 3.0%. The lightly-weighted utilities and real estate sectors also struggled, finishing at the bottom of the sector standings with losses of 0.9% and 1.7%, respectively.

In corporate news, Walgreens Boot Alliance (WBA 71.60, -3.91) dropped 5.2% despite reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenues for its fiscal first quarter. L Brands (LB 51.00, -7.16) also had a disappointing outing, as did many retailers, after lowering its profit projections for the holiday season. LB shares ended the session lower by 12.3% while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 45.71, -0.27) shed 0.6%.

Elsewhere, equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region finished Thursday on a higher note with Japan's Nikkei (+3.3%) climbing to its best level since 1991. European equities also had a solid day, especially financial names like Deutsche Bank (+2.7%) and Credit Agricole (+4.5%), pushing the Euro Stoxx 50 higher by 1.7%.

Outside the equity markets, U.S. Treasuries sold off modestly, extending losses for the week. The yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note advanced one basis point to 2.45% while the 2-yr yield settled at 1.95% after closing the prior session at 1.93%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index slipped 0.3% to 91.60, notching its sixth loss in seven sessions. The greenback lost 0.4% against the euro (1.2068) and 0.3% against the British pound (1.3554).

Reviewing Thursday's economic data, which included the ADP National Employment Report for December and the weekly Initial Claims Report:

The ADP National Employment Report showed an increase of 250,000 in December (Briefing.com consensus 190,000). The November reading was revised to 185,000 from 190,000.
The ADP reading precedes Friday's more influential Employment Situation Report for December (Briefing.com consensus +188K).
The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 250,000, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 239,000. Today's tally was above the revised prior week count of 247,000 (from 245,000). As for continuing claims, they declined to 1.914 million from a revised count of 1.951 million (from 1.943 million).
Initial claims have held below 300,000 for 148 straight weeks

On Friday, the Employment Situation Report for the month of December will be released at 8:30 AM ET. The Briefing.com consensus expects the report will show the addition of 188,000 nonfarm payrolls, a 0.3% increase in average hourly earnings, and an unemployment rate of 4.0%.

In addition, investors will receive the November Trade Balance (Briefing.com consensus -$47.9 billion) at 8:30 AM ET and both November Factory Orders (Briefing.com consensus +1.4%) and the ISM Services Index (Briefing.com consensus 57.6) at 10:00 AM ET.

Nasdaq Composite: +2.5% YTD
S&P 500: +1.9% YTD
Russell 2000: +1.4% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +1.3% YTD