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S&P 500, Nasdaq hit new record closes; Alphabet, GDP data spur gains
26-Jul-19 16:15 ET
Dow +51.47 at 27192.45, Nasdaq +91.67 at 8330.21, S&P +22.19 at 3025.86

https://www.briefing.com/investor/markets/stock-market-update/2019/7/26/s-and-p-500-nasdaq-hit-new-record-closes-alphabet-gdp-data-spur-gains.htm

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market wrapped up the week on a high note, as upbeat results from Alphabet (GOOG 1250.41, +118.29, +10.5%) and encouraging Q2 GDP data helped lift the S&P 500 (+0.7%) and Nasdaq Composite (+1.1%) to record closes. The Russell 2000 rose 1.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased just 0.2%.

Friday's session, much like in the days before, included its fair share of better-than-expected earnings reports. Alphabet gets the lead due to its mega-cap status, but honorable mentions include Starbucks (SBUX 99.11, +8.13, +8.9%) and Twitter (TWTR 41.80, +3.68, +9.7%). Dow components Intel (INTC 51.59, -0.57, -1.1%) and McDonald's (MCD 215.58, +1.14, +0.5%) underperformed despite positive results.

Besides earnings, the fact that the U.S. economy continues to grow at a healthy pace was a positive consideration for investors. The advance estimate for second-quarter GDP increased 2.1% (Briefing.com consensus 1.8%), which did mark a modest slowdown from last quarter but not as much as expected due to strong consumer spending.

The S&P 500 communication services sector (+3.3%), which is home to Alphabet and Twitter, nearly tripled the advance in the runner-up consumer staples sector (+1.2%). Laggards included energy (-0.5%) and industrials (-0.2%), although losses were modest.

Amazon (AMZN 1942.70, -31.22, -1.6%) was also left out of the advance after the company missed profit estimates and guided Q3 operating income below expectations.

In corporate news, Intel confirmed that Apple (AAPL 207.74, +0.72, +0.4%) will acquire most of its smartphone modem chip business for $1 billion. 3M (MMM 173.98, -4.15, -2.3%) disclosed an internal investigation to determine if its expenditures may have violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Department of Justice approved the merger between T-Mobile US (TMUS 84.25, +4.34, +5.4%) and Sprint (S 7.99, +0.55, +7.4%).

U.S. Treasuries finished the session with slight losses, pushing yields higher. The 2-yr yield increased two basis points to 1.87%, and the 10-yr yield increased one basis point to 2.08%. The U.S. Dollar Index advanced 0.2% to 98.01. WTI crude increased 0.3% to $56.19/bbl.

Reviewing the Q2 GDP data, which was Friday's lone economic report:

According to the BEA, the advance estimate showed Q2 real GDP increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.1% (Briefing.com consensus 1.8%) following a 3.1% increase in the first quarter. The GDP Price Deflator was up 2.4% (Briefing.com consensus 1.8%) after increasing 1.1% in the first quarter.
The key takeaway from the report is that it revealed some impressive strength in the U.S. consumer, evidenced by the 4.3% growth in personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which was the second highest over the past 16 quarters. PCE contributed 2.85 percentage points to Q2 GDP growth.

Investors will not receive any economic data of note on Monday.

Nasdaq Composite +25.5% YTD
S&P 500 +20.7% YTD
Russell 2000 +17.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +16.6% YTD