Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] It was a mostly lackluster day until the final 10 minutes of trading. The S&P 500 flirted with its prior close until a surge of buying interest propelled the index to a fresh record high (6,129) in the late afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which also closed at its best level of the day, logged a fractional gain and the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.1% higher.

There was a positive bias under the index surface even as major indices traded lower, which acted as an upside catalyst and invited more buying in the final moments of the day. 

The tepid price action through most of the session followed a long weekend that didn't present much market-moving news and a limited economic calendar today. The February Empire State Manufacturing survey, which jumped to 5.7 from -12.6, and the February NAHB Housing Market Index, which dropped to 42 from 47, garnered muted responses from the equity market. 

Losses in some mega cap stocks were another limiting factor through the session. Apple (AAPL 244.47, -0.13, -0.1%), Meta Platforms (META 716.37, -20.30, -2.6%), Amazon (AMZN 226.65, -2.03, -0.9%), Tesla (TSLA 354.11, -1.73, -0.5%), and Alphabet (GOOG 185.80, -1.07, -0.6%) were influential laggards in that respect.

Some of the aforementioned names weighed down their respective S&P 500 sectors. The communication services (-1.3%) and consumer discretionary (-0.5%) sectors closed at the bottom of the pack. 

On the flip side, the energy sector registered the biggest gain, responding to rising oil prices ($71.81/bbl, +1.13, +1.6%).

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +4.7% YTD
• S&P 500: +4.2% YTD
• Nasdaq Composite: +3.8%
• S&P Midcap 400: +3.4% YTD
• Russell 2000: +2.7% YTD

Reviewing today's economic data:

• February Empire State Manufacturing 5.7 (Briefing.com consensus -2.0); Prior -12.6
• February NAHB Housing Market Index 42 (Briefing.com consensus 47); Prior 47

Looking ahead to Wednesday, market participants receive the following economic data:

• 7:00 ET: Weekly MBA Mortgage Index (prior 2.3%)
• 8:30 ET: January Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.400 mln; prior 1.499 mln) and Building Permits (Briefing.com consensus 1.450 mln; prior 1.483 mln)