Note: Our daily “S&P 500 Outlook, Forecast, and Trading plan for Wednesday, 03/20” will be posted around 8:30am EDT, Wednesday.
THE GIST (“THE WHAT”)
The S&P 500 index closed today’s wild session mostly unchanged ahead of the highly-awaited FOMC policy statement release tomorrow. Gapping higher at the open, the index gave up most of the early session gains on trade jitters following reports that China might push back against the U.S. demands in the final stages of trade talks.
The index attempted to regain the ground but was pulled back sharply during the final trading hours to close the choppy session mostly unchanged at 2832.57, down fractionally by 0.37 point over the previous session’s close. Eight out of the eleven primary sectors traded lower, but strength in Health Care, Consumer Discretionary and Technology sectors helped offset some of the day’s losses.
THE DETAILS (The “How & Why”):
Utilities sector was broadly sold-off to be the worst performer in today’s choppy session, down sharply by 1.18%. Financials and Industrials were the other notable decliners of the session, down 0.76% and 0.41% lower. Banks and financial stocks traded lower despite Treasury yields settling higher ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy statement release tomorrow.
Boeing Inc. continued its plunge, falling another 0.31% amid ongoing scrutiny around the recent deadly crash involving the company’s most popular 737 Max jet planes. The aircraft maker fell on reports that the Canadian transportation officials are reassessing its certification process of these planes.
Energy and Real Estate sectors also added to the day’s declines, each closing lower by 0.29%. While rising yields hurt Real Estate stocks, oil prices pulled back from their four-month high to weigh down on Energy stocks.
On the positive side, Health Care, Consumer Discretionary and Technology sectors helped offset some of day’s declines by closing the session higher by 0.78%, 0.50% and 0.20%, respectively. DaVita Inc. and Cigna Corp led the Health Care space higher with a 3.53% and 3.39% jump, respectively. Semiconductor stocks were among the top gainers of the session, receiving a major boost from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and NVIDIA Corp.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. soared 11.83% after Alphabet Inc. confirmed its partnership with the chip maker for using its chips in its new streaming video game service called Stadia. Meanwhile, NVIDIA Corp jumped 4% to a four-month high on announcing a slew of new products and technologies and a partnership with Amazon.com Inc. to use T4 data-center chips.
Investors will be closely watching the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decision statement tomorrow, excepting the central back to maintain its latest dovish stance of being patient with the rate hikes amid signs of a slowing economic growth.