The S&P 500 closed at 7,537.43, a gain of 54.19 points or 0.72% on the day. Only 220 of the index's 503 members finished higher, less than half the roster, which means the advance came from a handful of large movers rather than a broad lift. The session landed in the 82nd percentile of the past year's daily moves.
Tesla did more for the index than any other name, adding 8.54 points on a 6.69% jump. Broadcom contributed 7.54 points on a 3.73% gain, Apple added 7.18 points on a smaller 1.31% move, and AMD chipped in 6.43 points as it rose 6.61%. Alphabet's C shares added 4.94 points. On the other side, Microsoft was the single biggest drag at negative 3.46 points despite a modest 0.96% decline, and AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Johnson and Johnson, and Applied Materials each subtracted a bit more than a point.
The Dow
The Dow closed at 53,055.91, up 155.84 points or 0.29%. Breadth was thin at just 12 of 30 members higher, and the index's own equal-weight version actually fell 0.15% on the day, a clear split between the average Dow stock and the price-weighted headline number.
Goldman Sachs explains why. It alone added 203.81 points on a 3.36% move, more than the entire index gain, with IBM adding 59.44 points and Boeing 47.85 points behind it. Alphabet's A shares and Caterpillar rounded out the top five. Weighing against that were Amgen, down 45.83 points, UnitedHealth, down 43.8, and Home Depot, down 43.09, each falling more than 1.7% and each large enough on a price-weighted basis to erase most of what Goldman contributed. Visa and Microsoft added smaller drags. This is the divergence story of the day in miniature: one financial stock outweighing a slate of health care, retail, and payments names.
The Nasdaq 100
The Nasdaq 100 closed at 29,697.87, up 368.66 points or 1.26%, a large move that sits in the 87th percentile of the past year. Breadth here was healthier than in the S&P, with 56 of 102 members higher, and the equal-weight return of 0.64% tracked much closer to the cap-weighted gain than it did on the Dow or the S&P, meaning this advance was less lopsided even though a handful of mega-caps still did most of the work.
Alphabet's two share classes together added 110.97 points, with the C shares contributing 63.37 and the A shares 47.6. Tesla added 59.29 points on its 6.69% gain and Broadcom added 38.38. Apple contributed 35.5 points. On the downside, Microsoft's 0.96% dip cost the index 16.71 points, Walmart fell 1.06% for a 5.68-point drag, and O'Reilly Automotive was the sharpest single decliner in the index at negative 6.66%, though its 2.99-point weight kept the damage contained.
The sectors
Eleven sectors split cleanly between a technology-and-cyclical group that gained and a defensive group that lost ground.
Technology was the strongest sector, up 1.65% for 2.98 points, with AMD the top driver at 0.54 points on its 6.61% gain. Financials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, and Communication Services all posted gains as well, the last of those led by Meta's 2.98% move.
Health Care was the weakest sector, down 1.09% for a loss of 1.78 points, with AbbVie the largest drag at negative 0.29 points on a 2.42% decline. Consumer Staples and Utilities were close behind on the downside, with Keurig Dr Pepper falling 4.65% and Duke Energy falling 2.8% as the respective top drags in their sectors.
Set against the past year, the Nasdaq 100's 1.26% move ranks in the 87th percentile, a large session by the threshold this note uses. The S&P 500's 0.72% gain sits at the 82nd percentile, just short of that bar, and the Dow's 0.29% move ranks only in the 62nd percentile, consistent with a session where its headline number was propped up by one stock rather than by broad strength.
The numbers
- The S&P 500 closed at 7,537.43, up 54.19 points or 0.72%, with 220 of 503 members higher, an 82nd-percentile session.
- The Nasdaq 100 closed at 29,697.87, up 368.66 points or 1.26%, a large move in the 87th percentile with 56 of 102 members higher.
- The Dow closed at 53,055.91, up 155.84 points or 0.29%, in the 62nd percentile, with only 12 of 30 members higher.
- Goldman Sachs was the single biggest driver in any index today, adding 203.81 points to the Dow on a 3.36% gain.
- Tesla added 8.54 points to the S&P 500 and 59.29 points to the Nasdaq 100 on a 6.69% rise.
- Microsoft was the largest drag in both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100, subtracting 3.46 points and 16.71 points respectively on a 0.96% decline.
- Technology was the day's strongest sector, up 1.65%, led by AMD's 6.61% gain.
- Health Care was the day's weakest sector, down 1.09%, led lower by AbbVie's 2.42% decline.
From Babylon Burns
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