Where the session stands: breadth, sectors, and what moved.
Read the transcript
This is the CAMS Midday Market Check for Wednesday, July 29.
Stocks are broadly lower at midday as the Federal Reserve opens its two-day policy meeting. The S&P 500 is down about one percent, the Nasdaq 100 is off close to one and a half percent, and the Dow is down about one point seven percent. Small caps are sliding too, with the Russell 2000 lower by about one point six percent.
Breadth tells the same story. Inside the Dow, only nine stocks are higher while twenty-one are lower. Dow Inc leads the advancers, up about five percent, followed by Salesforce and Chevron. On the downside, Caterpillar is the heaviest drag, off more than seven percent, with Goldman Sachs and Boeing each down four percent or more.
The sector picture has a clearly defensive character. Just two of the eleven sectors are in the green: energy, the standout with a gain of about two percent, and consumer staples, up under one percent. Health care is holding roughly flat. At the bottom sit the cyclicals: industrials down about three percent, technology off about two percent, and materials down more than one and a half percent. When industrials and materials lead the decline while staples hold firm, it suggests a market pulling in risk broadly rather than simply rotating from one group to another.
Volatility reflects the caution. The VIX is up about nine percent today, sitting just under the twenty mark.
Still ahead: the Fed wraps up day one of its meeting this afternoon, with the rate decision due tomorrow.
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