How the day closed: indexes, leaders, laggards, and volatility.
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This is the CAMS Closing Market Recap for Wednesday, August twelfth.
Inflation day ended quietly on the surface and unevenly underneath. The S&P 500 finished up about a quarter of a percent. The Nasdaq 100 did the heavy lifting, up roughly three quarters of a percent. The Russell 2000 added a little over half a percent. The Dow was the odd one out, essentially flat, closing fractionally lower.
That Dow number tells the story better than the S&P does. Advancers and decliners inside the Dow finished dead even, fifteen and fifteen. A chip maker, a networking company and a big-box retailer led the gainers, each up two to three percent. A home improvement retailer, a large software name and a chemicals company led the decliners, each down more than two percent. The average went nowhere while its components went in opposite directions with real conviction.
Sector leadership backs that up. Eight of eleven sectors closed higher. Technology led, up about one and a half percent, with real estate and utilities behind it, an unusual pairing of growth and rate-sensitive defensives on the same day. Materials, consumer discretionary and communication services all finished lower by roughly one percent or more.
Volatility drained away. The VIX fell close to five percent to just over fourteen and a half, which is what tends to happen once a major inflation print is behind the market rather than in front of it.
The day's character in one sentence: a narrow, technology-carried advance on a tape already looking past today toward tomorrow.
And tomorrow brings more of the same fuel. Producer prices, headline and core, arrive at eight thirty Eastern, alongside weekly jobless claims. Retail sales and consumer sentiment follow on Friday.
What the desk will be watching tomorrow is whether leadership stays this concentrated once the producer price numbers are out.
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