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S&P Overcomes Slow Start, Extends Monday's Rebound
11-Sep-18 16:25 ET
Dow +113.99 at 25971.06, Nasdaq +48.31 at 7972.50, S&P +10.76 at 2887.63

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2018/9/11/s-and-p-overcomes-slow-start-extends-mondays-rebound.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks stumbled out of the gate on Tuesday, but strengthened as the day wore on, ending higher for the second day in a row. The benchmark S&P 500 was down as much as 0.4% early, but finished with a gain of 0.4%, closing a tick below its session high. The Dow also climbed 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.6%.

Tuesday's slow start came after China told the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it wanted to impose sanctions on the U.S., citing Washington's non-compliance with a ruling in a dispute over U.S. dumping duties. That headline weighed on the futures market, but stocks immediately started moving higher after the opening bell.

Energy shares were particularly strong, helped by a rebound in the price of crude oil. WTI crude futures rallied 2.5% to $69.25/bbl, ending a five-session losing streak, as Hurricane Florence continued barreling towards the East Coast, where it may disrupt the Colonial Pipeline that connects Houston to New York. The S&P's energy sector advanced 1.0%.

Meanwhile, FAANG names gave the information technology (+0.8%) and consumer discretionary (+0.8%) sectors a boost, with Facebook (FB 165.94, +1.76), Apple (AAPL 223.85, +5.52), Amazon (AMZN 1987.15, +48.14), Netflix (NFLX 355.93, +7.52), and Alphabet (GOOG 1177.36, +12.72) adding between 1.1% and 2.5%.

The lightly-weighted telecom services sector (+1.1%) was another outperformer, but no other group posted a gain of more than 0.2%. Conversely, five of the eleven sectors finished in negative territory, but losses were modest; consumer staples and utilities were the worst-performing groups with a loss of 0.4% apiece.

U.S. Treasuries moved notably lower on Tuesday, pushing yields higher across the curve. The yield on the Fed-sensitive 2-yr note jumped four basis points to 2.75% -- its highest level in over a decade -- and the yield on the benchmark 10-yr note also advanced four basis points, settling at 2.98% -- its highest level in a month.

In politics, President Trump is reportedly considering a second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ahead of the November midterm elections. The two leaders held a historic summit in June, but relations have cooled since as North Korea drags its feet in its promise to work towards denuclearization.

Reviewing Tuesday's economic data, which included July Wholesale Inventories, the July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, and the August NFIB Small Business Optimism Index:

July Wholesale Inventories rose 0.6% (Briefing.com consensus +0.7%). The June reading was left unrevised at +0.1%.
The key takeaway from the report is that the pace of sales growth year-over-year continues to exceed the pace of inventories growth, which is a positive dynamic that can eventually help wholesalers regain pricing power if it persists.
The July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that job openings increased to 6.939 million from a revised 6.822 million (from 6.662 million) in June.
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for August increased to 108.8 from 107.9 in July.

Looking ahead, investors will receive the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index, the August Producer Price Index, and the Fed's Beige Book for August on Wednesday.

Nasdaq Composite +15.5% YTD
Russell 2000 +11.9% YTD
S&P 500 +8.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +5.1% YTD