Last month was a mixed month for the major stock indices . The Dow industrial average fell. The S&P was unchanged. The NASDAQ index had a solid gain of over 5.8%.
Today, the major indices are modestly lower 10 minutes into the open. A snapshot of the market shows:
- Dow industrial average -98.76 points or -0.30% at 32809.52
- S&P index -0.81% or -0.02% at 4179.03
- NASDAQ index minus 11.10.0 -0.09% at 12924.18
A down day today in the Dow industrial average would be the 8th in the last 9 trading days. The Dow30 continues to falter. Last month the Dow industrial average fell -3.49% after 2 months of gains in March and April. The Dow is down -1.29% in 2023
The NASDAQ index rose for the 3rd consecutive month in May. The NASDAQ index is up 23.55% in 2023.
The S&P index closed below its 100 week moving average yesterday. The moving average comes in at 4198.50. For the year, the S&P index is up 8.77%. For the month of May, the index rose by a small 0.25%.
Yields are lower helped by unit labor costs of the productivity report which rose by 4.2% versus 6.0% expected. Productivity did fall -2.1% but that was better than the -2.5% expected. The prior quarter came in at 1.6%. If stocks are to continue higher, gains in productivity would likely be a needed tailwind. Talks of AI improving productivity is a major theme for recent stock gains.
A snapshot of the US yield curve shows
- 2-year yield 4.367% -2.2 basis points
- 5-year yield 3.697% -4.6 basis points
- 10-year yield 3.595% -4.2 basis points
- 30-year yield 3.814% -4.2 basis points