Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The 10-yr note yield, which saw saw 4.66% earlier today, has come back to 4.61%, down three basis points from yesterday's settlement. That move was precipitated by the deceleration seen in the January S&P Global US Services PMI.

That isn't a strong growth signal, but to be fair, a reading above 50.0% is still indicative of an expansion in activity for the services sector, which is the largest economic sector. 

Small-cap stocks are exhibiting relative strength today. The Russell 2000 is up 0.2% versus the market cap-weighted S&P 500, which is flat. The equal-weighted S&P 500, however, is up 0.3%. Briefing.com's ETF Notes column recently highlighted some of the advantages accruing to the equal-weighted S&P 500 versus the market cap-weighted S&P 500.

Separately, oil prices ($74.34, -0.28, -0.4%) continue to slip after President Trump extolled a "drill, baby, drill" policy earlier in the week and yesterday told listeners at the World Economic Forum that he is going to pressure OPEC and Saudi Arabia to bring down oil prices. WTI crude futures are up 3.5% for the year but down 4.1% this week.