Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] Earlier, we noted that the S&P 500 was testing key support at its 50-day moving average (6,669.00), which has held on multiple occasions during the rally off the April lows. Our contention was that, if the buy-the-dip trade was going to be resuscitated, it should be happening there.

Well, it has taken some time to unfold (the S&P 500 ultimately traded down to 6,631.44), but the buy-the-dip crowd is back and has been doing the driving in the afternoon session. The S&P 500 is back above 6,700.00, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 416 points at its low today, is back in positive territory.

The afternoon rebound has been a broad-based and indiscriminate affair. Just about everything has been pulled higher, helped in part by a bubbling of optimism that the government shutdown could be close to ending.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Democrats will vote to reopen the government if Republicans agree to a one-year extension of COVID-era Obamacare subsidies. Axios reporter Stef Kight has reported that GOP senators will have a meeting at 3:30 PM today to discuss the Democrats' offer. They could reject it, but for now at least, the market is heartened that it isn't a flat-out "no."

While the rebound has been broad-based, that doesn't mean gains in every case, but it means reduced losses. The S&P 500 information technology sector, down 2.4% at its worst level of the day, is now down just 0.8%.

The equal-weighted S&P 500, meanwhile, is up 0.8%.