The S&P 500 rose 0.39% and the Dow was higher by 0.31%. Stocks gained strength throughout the day and the S&P 500 closed back above its 50-day moving average. The final hour push moved all ten sectors of the S&P into positive territory for the day. The S&P was higher by 0.30% for the week and the NASDAQ was higher for the week by 1.4%.
Microsoft was the leader in the NASDAQ today. The stock spiked by more than 7% after CEO Steve Ballmer announced he will retire from the company at some point during the next twelve months. This was the biggest driver in the outperformance of the NASDAQ today.
The market gave up its early gains after disappointing July new home sales were reported. The actual number for July was 394,000 against a consensus estimate of 485,000. This was the largest drop in this number since May of 2010 and brings the reading to its lowest level since October 2012.
Cyclical sectors did well today. Energy was strong, posting a gain of 0.70%. Materials continued their strong recent performance posting a gain of 0.90%. Microsoft’s big day lead to a gain of 0.60% for technology.
Interest rate sensitive areas of the market received some relief as rates declined today. Telecom services names rose by more than 1% and utilities were higher by 0.80%.
Trading volumes today were especially light. 572 million shares traded on the NYSE. Yesterday the NASDAQ was halted for three hours yesterday and today’s total volume was one million below yesterday’s total.
Source: PFS Group
