Where the session stands: breadth, sectors, and what moved.
Read the transcript
This is the CAMS Midday Market Check for Thursday, August sixth.
Stocks are drifting lower at midday, and the softness is broad rather than sharp. The S&P 500 is off about two tenths of a percent. The Nasdaq 100 is down four tenths. The Dow is weakest, lower by roughly six tenths. The Russell 2000 is holding up better, down about a quarter.
Breadth tells the clearer story. Inside the Dow, eight names are higher and twenty-two lower, close to a three-to-one tilt. Dow Incorporated, the chemicals maker, leads the gainers, up more than three percent, with Chevron and Disney also higher. At the other end, Salesforce is off about four and a half percent, Boeing near three percent, Honeywell two and a half.
Sector leadership is narrow. Only two of the eleven sectors are green, and energy is carrying almost all of it, up roughly one and a quarter percent. Communications is barely positive, technology a shade lower. The bottom of the board is the interesting part: utilities down about eight tenths, real estate down three quarters, consumer discretionary down six tenths. That is not the usual defensive shuffle on a down day. When the rate-sensitive corners lag alongside the consumer, it reads more like a rates story than a growth scare.
Volatility agrees. The VIX is down about two and a half percent, near fifteen and a half. Quiet, by any recent standard.
Weekly jobless claims landed before the bell. The rest of today's calendar is quiet. Tomorrow morning brings the monthly jobs report at eight thirty eastern, with payrolls, the unemployment rate, and average hourly earnings. Consumer price data follows next week.
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