Note: Our daily “S&P 500 Outlook, Forecast, and Trading plan for Tuesday, 04/23” will be posted around 8:30am EDT, Tuesday.

THE GIST (“THE WHAT”)

Hovering near all-time highs, the S&P 500 remains confined within the consolidation range as investors keenly await key quarterly earnings results of some of the major companies across sectors. A surge in oil prices provided a solid lift to Energy stocks in today’s session, helping to offset major weakness in Real Estate stocks following weaker-than-expected U.S. existing home sales reading. 
Opening lower, the index slowly grind higher to close in positive territory at 2907.97, up only 2.97 points over previous session’s close. Seven out of the eleven primary sectors traded lower for the day in today’s lackluster session.

THE DETAILS (The “How & Why”):

In an attempt to eliminate a key source of revenue for Iran, the Trump administration said that it would end waivers that allow other countries to import Iranian oil. Oil prices surged on concerns of tightening global supply, sparking a rally in Energy stocks to lead the broader index higher with a 2.05% gain. 
Marathon Oil Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. were among the best performers of the session, jumping 6.58% and 4.80%, respectively. Baker Hughes A GE Co, Diamondback Energy Inc. and Valero Energy Corp. all rose more than 3.50% each. Meanwhile, auto and transportations fell across the board alongside rising oil prices.
Communication Services and Technology sectors erased early session losses, closing modestly higher by 0.72% and 0.23% ahead of the key earnings release of Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp.
Among the decliners, Real Estate was the major drag on the index, closing 1.05% lower following disappointing existing home sales data that fell 4.9% in March, dampening investor sentiment. Declining mortgage rates and slowing housing prices failed to boost sales in the wake of tight housing supply.  
Materials and Industrials were other notable decliners of the session, down 0.67% and 0.32%, respectively. Boeing Inc. continues to drag Industrials space lower, falling another 1.32% in today’s session amid ongoing concerns of safety of its dreamliner 787 Max jets. Investor will be looking forward to quarterly earnings release of the struggling aircraft maker on Wednesday.