The S&P 500 closed at 7,585.73, down 34.25 points, or 0.45%, on the day. Breadth leaned negative but not lopsidedly so, with 158 of the index's 498 members finishing higher. The top five point contributors on each side of the ledger made up about half of the index's total move, a level of concentration that puts real weight on a handful of names rather than a broad market-wide push.
Microsoft was the single biggest drag, shaving 7.65 points off the index as shares fell 1.64%. Amazon followed at negative 6.25 points on a 2.02% decline, with Alphabet's two share classes, GOOGL and GOOG, together subtracting 5.70 points and Apple adding another 3.14 points of drag. On the other side, Nvidia added 3.56 points, AMD 2.10, and Exxon and Chevron each added just over a point apiece as energy names caught a bid.
The Dow
The Dow closed at 52,093.00, down 328.2 points, or 0.63%, a slightly sharper decline than the S&P's on a narrower base of gainers: just 9 of its 30 members finished higher. Concentration ran to 50% here as well, but the composition of the pressure looked different from the broader index.
Goldman Sachs was the Dow's largest single drag, cutting 71.09 points on a 1.21% decline, more than Microsoft's 49.27-point hit and ahead of UnitedHealth's 45.23-point subtraction. Amgen and Home Depot rounded out the top five drags. Where the Dow diverged from the S&P story was in its offsets: Chevron added 33.05 points on a 2.62% gain, more than double what the same stock contributed to the S&P, and JPMorgan, 3M and Honeywell each chipped in double-digit gains that the price-weighted index amplifies in a way the S&P does not.
The Nasdaq 100
The Nasdaq 100 closed at 28,937.84, down 189.32 points, or 0.65%, with breadth the weakest of the three indexes: only 25 of its 100 members advanced. The index's mode registered as broad rather than narrow, and concentration ticked up to 52%.
The divergence from the S&P and Dow shows up at the very top of the drag list. Space Exploration Technologies Corp was the single largest detractor, cutting 34.35 points on a 3.15% decline, a name that does not appear among the top movers in either of the other two indexes. Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet's two classes followed, together accounting for well over 100 points of the index's decline. On the positive side, Nvidia added 15.84 points, AMD 9.57, and Qualcomm, up 4.25%, contributed 4.36 points, with CrowdStrike also among the day's offsets.
The sectors
Sector performance split cleanly along a familiar line: Energy and Materials finished positive while most of the rest of the market gave ground, led lower by Consumer Discretionary, Utilities, and Communication Services.
Energy was the day's strongest sector, up 2.19%, or 1.41 points, with Exxon Mobil the top driver, adding 0.34 points on a 2.54% gain.
Consumer Discretionary was the weakest, down 1.76%, or 1.99 points, with Amazon the top driver of the decline, subtracting 0.57 points on its 2.02% drop.
Against the past year, none of today's three benchmark moves stand out. The S&P 500's decline sits at the 22nd percentile of moves over that stretch, the Dow's at the 18th, and the Nasdaq 100's at the 24th, all well shy of the 85th percentile threshold that would mark an outsized session. This was a routine pullback, concentrated in a small set of megacap names, with energy and chipmakers absorbing some of the pressure.
The numbers
- The S&P 500 closed at 7,585.73, down 34.25 points, or 0.45%, with 158 of 498 members higher.
- The Dow closed at 52,093.00, down 328.2 points, or 0.63%, with only 9 of 30 members higher.
- The Nasdaq 100 closed at 28,937.84, down 189.32 points, or 0.65%, with 25 of 100 members higher.
- Microsoft was the S&P 500's biggest single drag, subtracting 7.65 points on a 1.64% decline.
- Nvidia was the S&P 500's biggest offsetting gainer, adding 3.56 points on a 0.57% rise.
- Goldman Sachs led the Dow's decliners, cutting 71.09 points on a 1.21% drop.
- Energy was the day's strongest sector, up 2.19%, driven by Exxon Mobil's 2.54% gain.
- Consumer Discretionary was the day's weakest sector, down 1.76%, driven by Amazon's 2.02% decline.
- The S&P 500's move ranked at the 22nd percentile of the past year, well below the threshold for a large session.
From Babylon Burns
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