How the day closed: indexes, leaders, laggards, and volatility.
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This is the CAMS Closing Market Recap for Tuesday, August 11.
Stocks drifted lower into the close, but only barely. The S and P 500 finished down about a third of a percent, and the Nasdaq 100 and the Dow gave back roughly the same. The Russell 2000 went the other way, up about a third of a percent, so small caps spent the session out of step with the large caps.
The gap between the headline number and what sat underneath it was the story. Inside the Dow, fifteen components finished higher and fourteen finished lower, and the average still closed red. That is what one heavy drag does. Honeywell fell about five and a quarter percent, with Nike down about one and nine tenths and Cisco off about one and three quarters, and those three outweighed a majority of names that closed green. Dow Incorporated led the advancers, up about two and two tenths, with Home Depot and Chevron behind it.
Sector leadership was defensive and old economy. Energy led, up about one and a quarter percent, with utilities just behind at about one and two tenths. Industrials added six tenths. Four sectors closed higher, seven lower. Real estate was the weakest, off about seven tenths, and communications gave back half a percent.
Volatility stayed calm. The VIX eased about one percent to just over fifteen, which is not the profile of a nervous tape.
In one sentence: a quiet, slightly heavy session with more participation underneath it than the closing numbers let on.
The consumer price index lands tomorrow at eight thirty Eastern, headline and core, with producer prices Thursday. That report is what the rest of this week is arranged around.
Tomorrow the desk will be watching whether the defensive leadership of today survives the inflation number.
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