Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 closed at a new record high today, enjoying a steady ride higher throughout today's session despite a disappointing ADP Employment Change Report, which showed a loss of 33,000 jobs for private-sector payrolls in June. That news was overshadowed by the president announcing a trade deal with Vietnam that includes a zero tariff rate for U.S. access to Vietnamese markets, solid gains in several mega-cap stocks, and ongoing leadership in the small-cap and mid-cap spaces.

Tesla (TSLA 315.65, +14.94, +4.97%), which reported better-than-feared Q2 delivery numbers; Apple (AAPL 212.44, +4.62, +2.22%), which was upgraded to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies; and NVIDIA (NVDA 157.25, +3.95, +2.58%) and Alphabet (GOOG 179.76, +2.85, +1.61%), which were riding AI-related momentum, were the mega-cap leaders.

Their influence underpinned the market cap-weighted S&P 500 (+0.5%), which had a solid outing but nonetheless found itself looking up again at the Russell 2000 (+1.3%) and S&P Midcap 400 Index (+1.0%), which remained beneficiaries of rotational interest.

Like yesterday, today's buying interest was broad-based. Advancers led decliners by a better than 2-to-1 margin at the NYSE and Nasdaq.

The advancers did not include health insurer Centene (CNC 33.78, -22.86, -40.37%), which got pummeled after withdrawing its guidance following its first view analysis of 2025 industry Health Insurance Marketplace data from Wakely. Centene expects an adjusted diluted EPS impact of approximately $2.75 for FY25 based on the analysis. Other health insurance stocks traded lower in sympathy and were the drivers of the health care sector's (-1.0%) underperformance.

The financials sector (-0.1%) also trailed today's action, even though many of the nation's largest banks announced plans to increase their dividend and/or repurchase stock after passing the Federal Reserve's annual stress test.

Today's best-performing sectors were the energy (+1.7%), materials (+1.3%), and information technology (+1.3%) sectors.

Turning back to the ADP report, it was a disappointment, but market participants reserved judgment on its meaning, cognizant that they will get a more comprehensive view of the labor market with the release of the June Employment Situation Report before Thursday's open and that the ADP data doesn't always move in line with the government's data.

Speaking of the government, the "One Big, Beautiful Bill" remained stuck in the House, with some press reports suggesting there is dissension in the GOP ranks over its cost, holding up its passage. There is still a prevailing view that the bill will pass, even though its passage might be delayed beyond the president's wish to have it on his desk for signing by July 4.

As a reminder, the stock market will close at 1:00 p.m. ET Thursday in advance of the Independence Day holiday on Friday.

• S&P 500 +5.9% YTD
• Nasdaq: +5.6% YTD
• DJIA: +4.6% YTD
• S&P 400: +1.6% YTD
• Russell 2000: -0.2% YTD