Sector Investing

[ReturntoSender]

Market Snapshot

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

Dow 36488.63 +90.42 (0.25%)
Nasdaq 15766.20 -15.51 (-0.10%)
SP 500 4793.06 +6.71 (0.14%)
10-yr Note -6/32 1.549
NYSE Adv 1831 Dec 1476 Vol 608.8 mln
Nasdaq Adv 1938 Dec 2711 Vol 3.7 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Health Care, Real Estate, Utilities
Weak: Energy, Communication Services, Financials

Moving the Market

-- S&P 500 and Dow close at record highs in calm session

-- Below-average volume, lack of conviction

-- Treasury yield curve steepened, but bank stocks barely reacted

S&P 500 and Dow close at record highs
29-Dec-21 16:20 ET
Dow +90.42 at 36488.63, Nasdaq -15.51 at 15766.20, S&P +6.71 at 4793.06

[BRIEFING.COM] The major indices closed little changed on Wednesday, but the S&P 500 (+0.1%) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.3%) did set closing record highs. The Russell 2000 increased 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite decreased 0.1%. The Dow also set an intraday record high and extended its winning streak to six sessions.

Trading conditions remained thin, particularly at the NYSE, ahead of the new year festivities at the end of the week. That observation, plus the lack of market-moving news, suggested that there wasn't a lot of conviction in today's trading activities.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors closed higher, yet no sector rose more than 0.7%. The health care (+0.6%) and real estate (+0.6%) sectors tied for the lead, while the communication services (-0.3%), energy (-0.6%), and financials (-0.1%) sectors finished in negative territory.

The lack of conviction was further manifested in bank stocks showing little interest to the steepening activity in the Treasury market. Likewise, the energy sector closed lower despite an increase in oil prices ($76.57/bbl, +0.56, +0.7%). The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (KBE 54.84, +0.06) increased just 0.1%.

The 10-yr yield rose six basis points to 1.54% while the 2-yr yield was unchanged at 0.75%. The U.S. Dollar Index decreased 0.3% to 95.91.

Growth stocks, which were purportedly trading lower intraday because of the higher rates, recouped losses as the session progressed. The Russell 1000 Growth Index (+0.04%) closed fractionally higher after being down 0.5% intraday.

The 9.5% gain in Biogen (BIIB 258.31, +22.32, +9.5%), however, was linked to a specific catalyst. The Korea Economic Daily reported that the company in in talks to be acquired by Samsung Group for more than $40 billion.

Airlines stocks faced renewed selling interest after Delta (DAL 39.16, -0.47, -1.2%) and Alaska Airlines (ALK 52.14, -0.76, -1.4%) canceled/delayed hundreds more flights due to weather and Omicron issues. The U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS 21.14, -0.32) declined 1.5%.

Reviewing Wednesday's economic data:

The Advance International Trade in Goods report for November showed a deficit of $97.8 billion, up $14.6 billion from October. The Advance report for Retail Inventories for November increased 2.0%, while the Advance report for Wholesale Inventories for November increased 1.2%.
Pending home sales fell 2.2% m/m in November (Briefing.com consensus +0.6%) following a 7.5% jump in October.

Looking ahead, investors will receive the weekly Initial and Continuing Claims report on Thursday.

S&P 500 +27.6% YTD
Nasdaq Composite +22.3% YTD
Dow Jones Industrial Average +19.2% YTD
Russell 2000 +13.9% YTD

Crude futures settle higher, but energy stocks underperform
29-Dec-21 15:30 ET
Dow +148.87 at 36547.08, Nasdaq -20.87 at 15760.84, S&P +11.17 at 4797.52

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 is up 0.2% and is vying for a record close.

Nine sectors are supporting the effort, led by health care (+0.7%) and real estate (+0.7%) with 0.7% gains. The energy (-0.3%) and communication services (-0.3%) sectors are the two holdouts.

WTI crude futures settled higher by 0.7%, or $0.56, to $76.57/bbl.