Where the session stands: breadth, sectors, and what moved.
Read the transcript
This is the CAMS Midday Market Check for Tuesday, July 28.
It's a split tape at midday, and the divide is unusually clean. The Dow is up about one and a quarter percent, the S&P 500 is up about four tenths of a percent, the Russell 2000 is roughly flat, and the Nasdaq 100 is down about half a percent. When the Dow leads the Nasdaq by nearly two full points, that's rotation, not a broad rally or a broad selloff.
The breadth numbers tell the same story. Inside the Dow, twenty-six stocks are higher and only four are lower. Sherwin-Williams is the standout, up around eight percent, with Salesforce and IBM each up more than five. Caterpillar is the heaviest drag, down about four percent.
At the sector level, eight of the eleven groups are higher. Health care, consumer staples, and materials lead, each up more than two percent. The laggards are industrials, energy, and technology, with tech down about a percent and a half. Defensives and materials leading while tech lags reads as money shifting away from this year's crowded growth names rather than leaving the market altogether.
Volatility isn't showing any stress either. The VIX is down about two and a half percent to just over eighteen.
The calendar is the backdrop for all of it. The Federal Reserve's two-day meeting begins tomorrow, with the rate decision coming Wednesday afternoon. Sessions in front of a Fed decision often trade like this one, with plenty of movement underneath the surface and less conviction at the index level.
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