The Fed's long-anticipated December policy meeting is finally here -- and as traders assume a cut is all but done, stocks are heading up this morning, reacting with some of this morning's overdue economic reports. The Russell 2000 (+0.75%) continues building on consecutive days of gains, as the Dow (+0.20%) and S&P 500 (+0.20%) follow it higher.
This afternoon, nearly two-thirds of the market is advancing, about 3,670 issues in total. Among its best-performers are Pan American Silver Corp (+11.4%, investment in Galleon Gold), Galaxy Digital (+10.6%, upgraded by Citizens), and Clear Secure Inc. (+10.2%, won contract to offer identity services on Medicare.gov).In the narrower pocket of declining stocks are consumer banking company SLM Corp (-16.5%, downgrade by Morgan Stanley), ecommerce company WeShop Holdings Ltd (-15.1%, ongoing speculation), and Dyne Therapeutics (-13%, announced $300 million stock offering).
Tuesday Reading:
Looking at S&P 500 constituents, you can get a real clear idea of today's dominant themes. On the winning end of the market, today's best four-performing stocks in the index are financials. Three are private credit players -- Apollo Global (+5.4%), KKR & Co (+4.2%), and Blackstone (+3.9%) -- while bank Keycorp (+4.2%) is the sole outlier.
On the other end of the index, the four worst-performing stocks in the index are all from the auto parts and packaged food industry; that's Autozone (-6%), Campbells Co (-3.7%), O'Reilly Automotive (-3.7%), and Lamb Weston Holdings (-3%).
-- Noah Weidner, markets reporter
