The New York Stock Exchange

Friday US equity markets ended a touch lower closing out an otherwise very strong week, with the S&P 500 ending up 2.4%. There was a pro-cyclical tilt to the market early in the week, but mega-cap tech stocks began to outperform in the back half with the NYSE FANG+ index hitting a new all-time high. Earnings season got underway with most large US companies beating estimates but received with a muted response. It was a reasonably quiet weekend with most of the press focused on the improving inflation backdrop. The pace of earnings is set to pick up tomorrow and there was only minimal US economic data today. Disappointing China GDP and retail sales overnight and some cautious earnings reports in Europe set a slightly negative tone ahead of the open. US indices opened around unchanged but like Friday traders showed no appetite to push stocks lower and major indices are back near Friday’s highs. As we head to print, the S&P 500 is up 19pts to 4,525 (+0.4%), the Dow is up 85pts to 34,594 (+0.2%), while the Russell 2k is up 24pts to 1,955 (+1.3%).