Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.3%) now trades at its best level of the session, while the Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%) maintains a similar gain, and the DJIA (-0.3%) slightly trims some of its early losses.

The technology sector (+0.5%) is off to a decent start today after poor performances from chipmakers saw the sector open to early losses the past two days. Chipmakers seem are faring better in the early going today, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index up a modest 0.2%.

Elsewhere in the sector, IBM (IBM 258.97, -23.04, -8.17%) is pulling back sharply despite reporting quite healthy upside results for Q2 last night. IBM had a nice EPS beat of $0.15, and revenue grew 7.7% year-over-year to $16.98 billion, which was above expectations. Notably, this was IBM's strongest yr/yr growth since Q2 2022. However, the company did not provide guidance for next quarter's revenue like it did last quarter.

In economic data, new home sales increased 0.6% month-over-month in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 627,000 units (Briefing.com consensus 650,000) from an unrevised 623,000 in May. This leaves the pace of sales near the lowest level of the year, comparable to what was seen in October. On a year-over-year basis, new home sales were down 6.6%.

The key takeaway from the report is that the pace of sales remained near the lowest level of the year with sharp decreases in sales in the Northeast and the West masking gains in the Midwest and the South. There was pressure on the median selling price, as homes priced between $300,000 and $399,000 accounted for 35% of all sales (2025 high), up from 25% in May.