The major stock indices are closing higher for the 2nd consecutive day this week, and the 3rd consecutive day overall. The gains were led by the NASDAQ and S&P index which each rose over 0.5% today (but near the middle of the day's trading range)
The closing levels are showing:
- Dow industrial average rose 134.65 points or 0.40% at 33739.29. At session highs the index was up 293.56 points.
- S&P index rose 22.58 points or 0.52% at 4358.23. At session highs the index was up 49.81 points.
- NASDAQ index rose 78.59 points or 0.58% at 13562.83. At session highs the index was up 175.39 points.
Gains were helped by lower yields. The 10-year yield fell -13 basis points to 4.652%. The 30-year was down nearly 11 basis points while the 2-year was down -12.0 basis points.
The U.S. Treasury auctioned off $46 billion at 3-year notes today, but demand was light. The bid-to-cover ratio was much lower than the six-month average. There was a 1.7 basis point positive tail above the WI level at the time of the auction. Both direct and indirect bidders (i.e. domestic and international buyers) were lower than their six-month averages.
The USD is closing mostly lower with declines vs all the major currencies with the exception of the JPY. For the day, the GBP is the strongest and the JPY is the weakest.
