Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages have given back nearly all of their week-to-date gains this morning, with the S&P 500 (-1.1%), Nasdaq Composite (-1.6%), and DJIA (-0.8%) firmly lower across the board.

Eight S&P 500 sectors trade lower, with six holding losses of 1.0% or wider.

The top-weighted information technology sector (-2.2%) is among the laggards, facing pressure across chipmaker components that send the PHLX Semiconductor Index 4.5% lower. Coherent (COHR 373.16, -31.78, -7.85%) and Lumentum (LITE 929.42, -72.39, -7.23%) are among the worst-performing S&P 500 components.

Ford Motor (F 13.33, -1.15, -7.94%) is another S&P 500 laggard, giving back some of its previous gains that followed positive analyst commentary around its new energy storage business. Combined with weak mega-cap leadership from Tesla (TSLA 426.66, -16.64, -3.75%) and broad pressure, the consumer discretionary sector (-1.7%) is also moving lower this morning.

Meanwhile, the energy sector (+1.5) is firmly higher amid a bounce in oil prices, with crude oil up $3.11 (+3.1%) to $104.28 per barrel. Investors are concerned about a possible resumption of U.S. military strikes against Iran after the summit between the U.S. and China failed to produce any breakthroughs in relation to the conflict.

The consumer staples (+0.5%) and energy (+0.3%) sectors hold more modest gains.

On the data front, industrial production increased 0.7% month-over-month in April (Briefing.com consensus: 0.2%) following an upwardly revised 0.3% decline (from -0.5%) in March. The capacity utilization rate was 76.1% (Briefing.com consensus: 75.7%), up from 75.7% in March. Total industrial production was up 1.4% year-over-year. The capacity utilization rate was 3.3 percentage points below its long-run average.

The key takeaway from the report is that it was underpinned by solid manufacturing output that was led by the production of durables. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, manufacturing output was up 0.3% month-over-month.