Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages are trading lower, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite now flat for the day, while the DJIA (-0.3%) widens its loss.

The consumer discretionary sector (-0.7%) is an early laggard, with weak leadership from Amazon (AMZN 230.67, -2.12, -0.9%) and Tesla (TSLA 321.86, -3.73, -1.2%) erasing yesterday's advances. 

Shares of Royal Caribbean (RCL 334.69, -17.31, -4.9%) trade even lower after the company's earnings report, which saw an EPS expectations beat by $0.29 and in-line revenues, though Q3 EPS were guided below consensus, with FY25 EPS in-line.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose to 97.2 in July (Briefing.com consensus 95.5) from an upwardly revised 95.2 (from 93.0) in June. In the same period a year ago, the index stood at 101.9.

The key takeaway from the report is that the improvement was driven by an increase in the expectations index, though that index remains below a level that is typically indicative of a recession ahead.

• The Present Situation Index fell to 131.5 from 133.0.
• The Expectations Index rose to 74.4 from 69.9, remaining below 80, which is a level that typically signals recession ahead.
• Average 12-month inflation expectations fell to 5.8% from 5.9%.