Dow +126.60 at 39558.11, Nasdaq +122.94 at 16511.18, S&P +25.26 at 5246.68
The stock market ended the session on an upbeat note. The major indices all settled at or near session highs, which marked a fresh all-time closing high for the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 settled within ten points of its all-time high close.
The Russell 2000 continued its recent outperformance, gaining 1.2% today, with some added help from another meme stock rally that saw the likes of GameStop (GME 48.75, +18.30, +60.1%) and AMC Entertainment (AMC 6.85, +1.66, +32.0%) trade up more than 100% at one point before succumbing to some profit-taking activity. The Russell 2000 is the best-performing index this month, up 5.7%.
The major indices traded in mixed fashion for most of the session, however, as participants digested the April Producer Price Index (PPI). The headline inflation readings were hotter-than-expected, up 0.5% month-over-month for total PPI and core PPI versus an expected 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, but the sizable downward revisions to last month’s readings kept the market response more mixed rather than negative.
Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors settled with gains led by information technology (+0.9%) and real estate (+0.7%). The consumer staples sector was the worst performer, logging a 0.2% gain.
So the market shrugged off hotter than expected PPI today, let’s see how it handles tomorrow’s CPI #. I know what an egg costs so I’m surprised the market looked the other way today.