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Market Snapshot

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

Dow 35213.12 -192.38 (-0.54%)
Nasdaq 14945.79 -96.05 (-0.64%)
SP 500 4469.92 -26.27 (-0.58%)
10-yr Note -23/32 1.360
NYSE Adv 828 Dec 2400 Vol 680.9 mln
Nasdaq Adv 1582 Dec 2781 Vol 3.6 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Real Estate
Weak: Energy, Information Technology, Consumer Discretionary

Moving the Market

-- Stock market loses rebound momentum

-- Hawkish-sounding Fed commentary

-- Two explosions in Afghanistan killed at least 12 servicemen

-- salesforce.com (CRM) provided encouraging earnings news

Rebound momentum halted
26-Aug-21 16:15 ET
Dow -192.38 at 35213.12, Nasdaq -96.05 at 14945.79, S&P -26.27 at 4469.92

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market's rebound momentum was put to a halt on Thursday, with the major indices losing between 0.5% (Dow Jones Industrial Average) and 1.1% (Russell 2000) amid some negative-sounding headlines. Both the S&P 500 (-0.6%) and Nasdaq Composite (-0.6%) snapped five-session winning streaks.

Namely, Kansas City Fed President George (FOMC voter in 2022), St. Louis Fed President Bullard (FOMC voter in 2022), and Dallas Fed President Kaplan (FOMC voter in 2023) each told CNBC that they prefer the Fed taper asset purchases sooner rather than later. In addition, there were two explosions in Afghanistan that killed at least 12 servicemen, exacerbating the geopolitical uncertainty in the region.

These events were largely viewed as convenient excuses for the market to slow down its record-setting pursuit. These Fed officials had already issued similar comments before today, and the Afghanistan situation doesn't seem like it will have any impact on the economy.

Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed lower, led by energy (-1.5%) as oil prices ($67.35, -0.99, -1.5%) retraced some rebound gains. The heavily-weighted information technology sector (-0.6%) exerted influential pressure on the market with a 0.6% decline, while the real estate sector (+0.1%) was spared from today's selling activity.

Trading volume was below recent averages once again, with only 638 million shares exchanged at the NYSE. This reduced volume might have contributed to the negative price action.

On the earnings front, salesforce.com (CRM 267.79, +6.94, +2.7%) helped limit the decline in the Dow after the company reported better-than-expected earnings results and issued upbeat guidance. Snowflake (SNOW 305.26, +21.50, +7.6%) and Williams-Sonoma (WSM 186.68, +15.95, +9.3%) also registered decent earnings-driven gains.

Conversely, Autodesk (ADSK 310.19, -32.08, -9.4%), Dollar General (DG 225.90, -8.84, -3.8%), Dollar Tree (DLTR 93.48, -12.84, -12.1%), and Burlington Stores (BURL 318.01, -32.14, -9.2%) underwhelmed investors with their earnings results.

Elsewhere, the Treasury market was more subdued, as investors digested the macro headlines and awaited Fed Chair Powell's Jackson Hole speech tomorrow. The 10-yr yield settled unchanged at 1.34%, and the 2-yr yield settled unchanged at 0.23%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.2% to 93.05.

The CBOE Volatility Index (18.81, +2.03, +12.1%) jumped two points, as demand for downside protection increased with the negative disposition in the market.

Reviewing Thursday's economic data:

The second estimate for Q2 GDP checked in at 6.6% (Briefing.com consensus 6.6%) versus the advance estimate of 6.5% and the GDP Deflator edged up to 6.1% (Briefing.com consensus 6.0%) from the advance estimate of 6.0%.
The report's dated nature (we're nearly two-thirds of the way through Q3) and the lack of any meaningful change from the advance estimate have muted its influence.
Initial claims for the week ending August 21 increased by 4,000 to 353,000 (Briefing.com consensus 355,000) while continuing claims for the week ending August 14 decreased by 3,000 to 2.862 million.
The key takeaway from the report is the continued firming of the initial claims trend below 400,000, as that remains consistent with an improving labor market that is anticipated to keep improving based on the number of available job openings.

Looking ahead, investors will receive Personal Income, Personal Spending, and PCE Prices for July, the final University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment for August, and Adv. Intl Trade in Goods, Retail Inventories, and Wholesale Inventories for July on Friday.

S&P 500 +19.0% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +16.0% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +15.1% YTD
Russell 2000 +12.1% YTD

Crude futures retrace some rebound gains
26-Aug-21 15:30 ET
Dow -166.29 at 35239.21, Nasdaq -80.25 at 14961.59, S&P -23.09 at 4473.10

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 is down 0.5% and on track to snap a five-session winning streak.

One last look at the sector standings shows energy (-1.5%) leading the decline amid a retracement in oil prices while the top-weighted information technology sector trades lower by 0.5%. The real estate sector (+0.2%) remains the only sector trading higher.

WTI crude futures settled lower by 1.5%, or $0.99, to $67.35/bbl.