Stock Market Update
24-Aug-26 14:55 ET
Military contractors trapped in a range
Dow +157.71
at 53434.72,
Nasdaq -136.61
at 26064.88,
S&P -14.46
at 7659.91
[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 remains lower by 0.2% going into the final hour of today's session.
The top-weighted technology (-1.2%) is largely responsible for the remaining loss in the broader market, but there is also some softness in industrials (-0.8%) and energy (-0.8%). The industrials sector is facing a continuation of recent weakness in military contractors, which has driven the SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR 265.40, -7.34, -2.69%) from a fresh record high on August 14 back to its 200-day moving average (265.29) today. This leaves the industry group essentially in the middle of a range that has been in effect since the start of the year.
As for energy, the sector is on the receiving end of some profit taking after a strong August. Even with today's loss, the group is still up more than 5.0% for the month, easily outpacing the S&P 500 and its 2.3% month-to-date gain.
