Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (-0.1%), Nasdaq Composite (flat), and DJIA (-0.2%) have improved from their opening lows following an uptick in sector strength. 

Six S&P 500 sectors now trade at or slightly above their baselines, led by the utilities sector (+0.4%). 

The communication services sector (+0.1%) trades in positive territory as Alphabet (GOOG 202.13, +1.94, +0.97%) negates a loss in Meta Platforms (META 739.42, -8.30, -1.11%) following reports that the company has paused hiring for its AI division. 

Existing home sales increased 2.0% month-over-month in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.01 million (Briefing.com consensus 3.92 million) from an unrevised 3.93 million in June. Sales were up 0.8% on a year-over-year basis.

The key takeaway from the report is that a moderation in selling prices, coupled with an increase in inventory (the highest since May 2020), helped boost sales despite the persistence of higher mortgage rates.