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Soft ending to an incredibly strong month
30-Nov-20 16:15 ET
Dow -271.73 at 29638.58, Nasdaq -7.11 at 12198.65, S&P -16.72 at 3621.65

https://www.briefing.com/stock-market-update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 declined 0.5% on Monday to end a spectacular month on a soft note. An intraday recovery in technology stocks, however, helped lift the benchmark index and Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%) off session lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.9%) and Russell 2000 (-1.9%) underperformed.

The market struggled despite Moderna (MRNA 152.74, +25.71, +20.2%) providing another encouraging vaccine update and Apple (AAPL 119.05, +2.46, +2.1%) receiving an analyst upgrade to Buy from Hold at Loop Capital. The information technology (+0.7%) and health care (+0.3%) sector did benefit, but nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed lower.

The energy sector dropped 5.4%, largely due to profit-taking interest and some angst that OPEC+ might not agree to extend production cuts for three months starting Jan. 1. Interestingly, oil prices ($45.37, -0.08, -0.2%) were less affected by these concerns.

As for the vaccine news, Moderna said its vaccine was 94.1% effective in preventing COVID-19 and 100% effective in protecting against serious outcomes. The company said it would apply with the FDA today for emergency use authorization.

Note, today was the fourth Monday in a row that the market received a positive vaccine update, but the every update since the first one has had a diminishing effect on the major indices, suggesting a lot of the news was already priced in. To be fair though, market conditions were also ripe for month-end profit taking.

In other corporate news, S&P Global (SPGI 351.78, +10.21, +3.0%) agreed to merge with IHS Markit (INFO 99.46, +6.88, +7.4%) in an all-stock transaction that values IHS at $44 billion, and Nikola (NKLA 20.41, -7.52, -26.9%) shares tanked 27% after General Motors (GM 43.84, -1.22, -2.7%) announced a revised partnership that excludes an equity stake.

Separately, reports indicated that the Trump administration is planning on adding China's largest semiconductor foundry and one of its largest oil companies to a defense blacklist. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 1.2% despite the news, as the market held back typical retaliation concerns.

U.S. Treasuries finished little changed in a muted session. The 2-yr yield declined one basis point to 0.14%, and the 10-yr yield was flat at 0.84%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.2% to 92.00.

Reviewing Monday's economic data:

The Chicago PMI for November decreased to 58.2% (Briefing.com consensus 58.1%) from 61.1% in October.
Pending home sales decreased 1.1% in October (Briefing.com consensus +1.0%) following a revised 2.0% decline in September (-2.2%).

Looking ahead, investors will receive the ISM Manufacturing Index for November, Construction Spending for October, and auto and truck sales for November on Tuesday.

Nasdaq Composite +36.0% YTD
S&P 500 +12.1% YTD
Russell 2000 +9.1% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +3.9% YTD

Market Snapshot
Dow 29638.58 -271.73 (-0.91%)
Nasdaq 12198.65 -7.11 (-0.06%)
SP 500 3621.65 -16.72 (-0.46%)
10-yr Note 0/32 0.845
NYSE Adv 953 Dec 2116 Vol 1.9 bln
Nasdaq Adv 1325 Dec 2258 Vol 7.5 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Information Technology, Health Care
Weak: Energy, Financials, Utilities

Moving the Market

-- Profit-taking interest in the energy sector and other cyclical parts of market

-- Moderna (MRNA) provided another encouraging vaccine update

-- Relative strength in the technology and health care sectors

WTI crude futures settle slightly lower
30-Nov-20 15:30 ET
Dow -361.61 at 29548.70, Nasdaq -17.40 at 12188.36, S&P -22.53 at 3615.84

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 is down 0.6% while the Nasdaq (-0.1%) has slipped into the red.

One last look at the S&P 500 sectors shows information technology (+0.6%) building on its intraday rebound after being down 1.1% earlier today. The energy sector is down 4.3% amid profit-taking interest (it's still up 28% this month) and angst that OPEC+ might not extend production cuts by another three months starting Jan. 1.

The latter didn't affect oil prices too much today. WTI crude futures settled lower by 0.2%, or $0.08, to $45.37/bbl.