How the day closed: indexes, leaders, laggards, and volatility.
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This is the CAMS Closing Market Recap for Monday, August 3.
Stocks opened August with a broad advance. The S&P 500 rose about one and a half percent on the day, the Nasdaq 100 gained close to two percent, the Dow added one point three percent, and the Russell 2000 climbed one point seven percent, so small caps kept full pace with the large caps.
Eight of the eleven sectors finished higher. Communications led the tape with a gain of nearly three percent, followed by industrials and consumer discretionary, each up close to two percent. The soft spots were mostly defensive: health care and consumer staples slipped a fraction, while energy was the day's clear laggard, down about one point three percent.
Inside the Dow, breadth finished at eighteen advancers against twelve decliners. Boeing was the standout, up eight percent, Microsoft gained almost five percent, and Sherwin-Williams added nearly four. On the other side of the ledger, McDonald's, Merck, and Chevron each slipped close to two percent.
Volatility stayed quiet, with the VIX easing to just under sixteen.
The day's character in one sentence: a broad, growth-led session where nearly everything participated except energy and the classic defensive corners.
Looking at tomorrow's calendar, the main U.S. item is the JOLTS job openings report at ten in the morning Eastern, with New Zealand employment figures due in the evening. That starts a labor-heavy week that runs through ADP on Wednesday, weekly jobless claims on Thursday, and the monthly payrolls report on Friday morning.
The desk will be watching how tomorrow's job openings figure sets the tone for that string of employment data.
CAMS publishes impersonal market research — nothing here is individualized investment advice. The full written research is at curve ahead market strategies dot com.
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