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Market Snapshot

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

Dow 34033.67 -265.66 (-0.77%)
Nasdaq 14039.68 -33.17 (-0.24%)
SP 500 4223.70 -22.89 (-0.54%)
10-yr Note -27/32 1.561
NYSE Adv 1227 Dec 1956 Vol 1.1 bln
Nasdaq Adv 1886 Dec 2209 Vol 4.6 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Consumer Discretionary
Weak: Utilities, Consumer Staples, Materials

Moving the Market

-- Fed keeps rates near zero and the pace of asset purchases unchanged, as expected

-- Fed signals rate hike by end of 2023, versus prior expectations of leaving rates unchanged through 2023

-- Fed Chair Powell strikes accommodative tone in press conference

-- Housing starts and building permits data for May miss expectations

Stocks close mostly lower amid hawkish-sounding FOMC statement
16-Jun-21 16:15 ET
Dow -265.66 at 34033.67, Nasdaq -33.17 at 14039.68, S&P -22.89 at 4223.70

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 declined 0.5% on Wednesday, as the market weighed a hawkish-sounding FOMC policy announcement against an accommodative tone from Fed Chair Powell. The Nasdaq Composite (-0.2%) and Russell 2000 (-0.2%) both declined just 0.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.8%.

To start, the FOMC did what most market observers were expecting: it kept the target range for the fed funds rate near zero and maintained the pace of asset purchases by at least $120 billion per month. The central bank also remained committed to the view that recent inflation pressures have largely been due to transitory factors.

The hawkish part stemmed from the Fed's interest-rate projections signaling a rate hike by the end of 2023, versus a prior indication of leaving rates unchanged through 2023. What's more, the Fed increased the interest on excess reserves to 0.15% from 0.10%, and the reverse repurchase rate was increased by five basis points to 0.05%.

The S&P 500 was down as much as 1.0% during the start of Fed Chair Powell's follow-up press conference while the fed-funds-sensitive 2-yr yield rose five basis points to 0.21%. The 10-yr yield touched 1.59% before settling at 1.57%, or seven basis points above yesterday's settlement. The U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.8% to 91.28.

The benchmark index briefly returned to pre-FOMC levels, reportedly after Fed Chair Powell said this was the "talking about talking about [tapering asset purchases]" meeting and that the Fed will provide advanced notice before announcing any decision to make changes to asset purchases. The Fed Chair once again reiterated that interest-rate projections are not a great forecasting tool.

Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors still closed in negative territory, though, including utilities (-1.5%), consumer staples (-1.2%), and materials (-1.2%) with losses over 1.0%. The consumer discretionary sector (+0.2%) was the only sector that closed higher, largely due to Amazon (AMZN 3415.25, +32.12, +1.0%) and Tesla (TSLA 604.87, +5.51, +0.9%).

In other developments, housing starts and building permits data for May missed consensus expectations, Citigroup (C 71.46, -2.36, -3.2%) warned trading revenue for the second quarter could drop 30% yr/yr, and Oracle (ORCL 77.08, -4.58, -5.6%) issued downside EPS guidance for its fiscal first quarter.

WTI crude futures settled relatively unchanged at $72.06/bbl.

Reviewing Wednesday's economic data:

Total housing starts increased 3.6% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.572 million units (Briefing.com consensus 1.635 million). Total permits decreased 3.0% month-over-month to 1.681 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.730 million).
The key takeaway from the report is that while housing starts showed a larger than expected increase, building permits decreased in most regions, which is not going to help alleviate the ongoing supply shortage.
Import prices increased 1.1% in May, while import prices excluding oil increased 0.9%. Export prices increased 2.2% in May, while export prices excluding agriculture increased 1.7%.
The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index increased 4.2% following a 3.1% decline in the prior week.

Looking ahead, investors will receive the weekly Initial and Continuing Claims report, the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index for May, and the Philadelphia Fed Index for June on Thursday.

Russell 2000 +17.2% YTD
S&P 500 +12.5% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +11.2% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +8.9% YTD

Stocks making a comeback
16-Jun-21 15:30 ET
Dow -152.41 at 34146.92, Nasdaq +6.99 at 14079.84, S&P -8.32 at 4238.27

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 is down just 0.2% after being down 1.0% not too long ago.

The financials (+0.5%), consumer discretionary (+0.4%), and energy (+0.1%) sectors are leading the comeback effort with modest gains, while the utilities (-1.3%) and consumer staples (-1.0%) sectors are down at least 1.0%.

WTI crude futures settled little changed at $72.06/bbl.