Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market's early gains quickly propelled the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) to new all-time high levels, but a lack of conviction in the market saw the early gains negated, ultimately leading the major averages to finish with modest losses.

At its peak just after 12:00 PM ET, the Nasdaq Composite notched a record high level of 21,549.73. The S&P 500 (-0.3%) traded above its record closing high at the same time, but the gains did not hold throughout the afternoon. The DJIA (-0.5%) spent the vast majority of the session in negative territory.

While the noncommittal nature of today's trade is not surprising considering the market will receive July CPI data tomorrow, there was certainly no lack of headlines for the market to digest, despite an empty economic calendar. Tariff extensions, rate cut expectations, geopolitical summits, and semiconductor policy provided a multitude of talking points, though the markets were not swayed too far in any direction.

The market digested Vice Fed Chair Michelle Bowman's (FOMC voting member) Saturday comments in which she stated that three rate cuts could be appropriate this year, citing a recent softening in the labor market as a motivating factor. Later in the afternoon, Bloomberg reported that Bowman, Fed Vice Chair Phillip Jefferson, and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan were added to the Trump administration's list of possible Fed Chair nominees, which also includes James Bullard, Marc Summerlin, Kevin Hasset, Christopher Waller, and Kevin Warsh.

Shares of NVIDIA (NVDA 182.15, -0.55, -0.30%) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 172.28, -0.48, -0.28%) traded lower before the open today, following a report from Financial Times that the companies will cede 15% of their AI chip sales in China to the U.S. government in exchange for export licenses.

Upside Q4 (Aug) EPS and revenue guidance from Micron (MU 123.76, +4.86, +4.09%), and headlines of a visit between President Trump and Intel (INTC 20.68, +0.73, +3.66%) CEO Lip-Bu Tan buoyed the PHLX Semiconductor Index as high as 1.5%, though the index ultimately closed with a loss of 0.1%

The information technology sector (-0.7%) spent time among the best-performing S&P 500 sectors today before finishing among the worst. Other laggards included the energy (-0.8%), real estate (-0.7%), and utilities (-0.4%) sectors.

Several S&P 500 sectors spent time oscillating between positive and negative territory before a late-session sell-off eroded sector strength and saw eight sectors close with losses. The selling activity led to the major averages closing near session lows.

Only the consumer staples (+0.2%), consumer discretionary (+0.1%), and health care (+0.1%) sectors finished with modest gains.

Stocks of all sizes retreated today. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF closed with a loss of 0.2%, with Tesla (TSLA 339.13, +9.48, +2.87%) preventing further losses following a CNBC report that the company submitted a formal license request to become an electricity provider in the U.K. Meanwhile, the S&P Mid Cap 400 finished with a loss of 0.4%, and the Russell 2000 slightly outperformed, closing on its flatline.

On the trade front, Treasury Secretary Bessent said in an interview with Nikkei that tariff rates may be subject to reduction for countries in which the U.S. sees a decreased trade deficit and that he expects trade issues to be largely sorted out by the end of October.

Separately, President Trump signed an executive order this afternoon extending the tariff truce with China for an additional 90 days.

The president is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. The Telegraph reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told other European leaders he is not willing to concede any territory that is currently held by Ukraine, but territory that Russia currently occupies could be negotiated as part of a ceasefire deal.

Longer-dated Treasuries started the week on a modestly higher note, while the 2-year note lagged slightly, spending the session near its unchanged level. The 2-year note yield settled down one basis point to 3.75%, and the 10-year note yield also settled down one basis point to 4.27%.

• Russell 2000: UNCH WTD
• S&P 500: -0.3% WTD
• Nasdaq Composite: -0.3% WTD
• DJIA: -0.5% WTD