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Market Snapshot

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

Dow 34496.51 -144.67 (-0.42%)
Nasdaq 13888.80 -315.35 (-2.22%)
SP 500 4481.15 -43.97 (-0.97%)
10-yr Note -26/32 1.0 bln
NYSE Adv 904 Dec 2300 Vol 1.1 bln
Nasdaq Adv 1357 Dec 2919 Vol 5.2 bln

Industry Watch
Strong: Utilities, Health Care, Consumer Staples, Real Estate, Energy
Weak: Information Technology, Consumer Discretionary, Communication Services

Moving the Market

-- Lingering concerns about the Fed's hawkish mindset, rising interest rates, and slower economic growth

-- Growth stocks pace retreat for second straight day as Treasury yields hit multi-year highs

-- FOMC Minutes corroborate Fed's intentions to tighten policy more aggressively

Growth stocks pace retreat for second day in a row
06-Apr-22 16:15 ET
Dow -144.67 at 34496.51, Nasdaq -315.35 at 13888.80, S&P -43.97 at 4481.15

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 fell 1.0% on Wednesday, as concerns about the Fed's hawkish mindset, rising interest rates, and slower economic growth continued to pressure risk sentiment. Growth stocks paced the retreat and accounted for the underperformance of the Nasdaq Composite (-2.2%).

The Russell 2000 struggled with a 1.4% decline while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined just 0.4%.

Fed Governor Brainard's (FOMC voter) hawkish expectations for monetary policy remained fresh on the market's mind, such that today's trading dynamics were awfully similar to yesterday.

For example, interest rates hit fresh multi-year highs, which worked against the mega-caps within the S&P 500 information technology (-2.6%), consumer discretionary (-2.6%), and communication services (-2.1%) sectors for valuation reasons. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (MGK 229.78, -5.89) fell 2.5%.

In addition, investors continued to lean defensively into the utilities (+2.0%), health care (+1.6%), real estate (+1.6%), and consumer staples (+1.4%) sectors. The energy sector (+0.5%), to be fair, also landed in the green despite a 5% decline in oil prices ($96.59/bbl, -4.94, -4.9%).

The S&P 500 fell back below its 200-day moving average (4490), but the benchmark index briefly peaked above the key technical level following the release of the FOMC Minutes for March. The minutes corroborated Ms. Brainard's concerns about inflation and the need to tighten policy more aggressively.

Participants generally agreed it would be appropriate to reduce the balance sheet by $95 billion per month (about $60 billion for Treasury securities and about $35 billion for agency MBS) and that one or more 50 basis point increases in the fed funds rate could be appropriate at future meetings.

Treasury yields, which had backtracked from overnight highs, also saw some volatility following the FOMC Minutes. The 2-yr yield decreased two basis points to 2.49% (topped 2.60% overnight) while the 10-yr yield rose six basis points to 2.61% (topped 2.65% overnight). The U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.1% to 99.61.

A separate story of note was in the airline industry. JetBlue Airways (JBLU 12.45, -1.19, -8.7%) proposed a $3.6 billion, or $33.00/share, cash offer for Spirit Airlines (SAVE 26.28, -0.64, -2.4%), which had previously agreed to merge with Frontier Group (ULCC 10.61, -1.31, -11.0%).

Reviewing Wednesday's economic data:

The weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index fell 6.3% following a 6.8% decline in the prior week.
Crude oil inventories had a build of 2.42 mln barrels following a draw of 3.45 mln barrels in the prior week.

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

Dow Jones Industrial Average -5.1% YTD
S&P 500 -6.0% YTD
Russell 2000 -10.2% YTD
Nasdaq Composite -11.2% YTD

Crude futures fall 5%
06-Apr-22 15:30 ET
Dow -237.68 at 34403.50, Nasdaq -333.22 at 13870.93, S&P -54.03 at 4471.09

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 is down 1.2% after briefly peaking above its 200-day moving average (4490).

One last look at the S&P 500 sectors shows influential losses in the information technology (-2.6%), consumer discretionary (-2.8%), and communication services (-2.3%) sectors, while the utilities (+1.3%), health care (+1.1%), consumer staples (+1.1%), and real estate (+0.9%) sectors continue to embody a defensive mindset.

WTI crude futures settled lower by $4.94 (-4.9%) to $96.59/barrel amid bearish inventory data and growth concerns.