All ten sectors posted gains with consumer staples leading the advance
U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday, 16 June 2015 as investors shrugged off worries about unsuccessful Greek debt talks and awaited the outcome of a two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting which concludes on Wednesday. The stock market appeared to find support in stronger-than-expected data for building permits.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 113.31 points, or 0.6%, to 17,8904.48. The Nasdaq Composite rose 25.58 points, or 0.5% to 5,055.55. The S&P 500 added 11.86 points, or 0.6%, to 2,096.29.
All ten sectors posted gains with consumer staples leading the advance. The sector rebounded from yesterday's underperformance amid broad strength while other countercyclical groups ended mixed with respect to the broader market. Similar to consumer staples, the telecom services sector outperformed while health care and utilities ettled behind the broader market.
Top-weighted technology sector outperformed throughout the session while three of the remaining five growth-sensitive groups also displayed relative strength. The energy sector rallied.
Equity indices began the day near their flat lines and rallied throughout the day, unperturbed by the lack of progress between Greece and its creditors. Furthermore, the rhetoric in Athens intensified with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras saying the International Monetary Fund bears "criminal" responsibility for the current state of the Greek economy.
The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee (FOMC) began its meeting on U.S. monetary policy Tuesday morning. The meeting ends Wednesday afternoon with a statement that includes new economic projections and will be followed by a press conference from Fed Chair Janet Yellen. The Fed's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee will conclude its two-day meeting on Wednesday. The central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but investors expect clues on the timing of a widely anticipated rate hike.
European stock markets were lower on Tuesday, pressured in part by the Greece-EU debt negotiations that broke down Sunday. The IMF pulled out of the talks last week. Reports say Greece's prime minister will try to deal directly with European Union leaders on the matter, starting with a Euro zone member meeting on Thursday. Greek bond yields have pushed higher and are now trading above 29% for the two-year note. This compares with the safe-haven German bund that now sees the 10-year issue trading at 0.78%.
Meanwhile, Germany's 10-yr bund climbed, sending its yield lower by three basis points to 0.80% while the U.S. 10-yr note also rallied with its yield slipping four basis points to 2.32%.
Once again, today's participation was below average with roughly 640 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.
Crude oil futures marked their first gain in four sessions on Tuesday, 16 June 2016 at Nymex. Prices rose as traders bet that data due out this week will show another weekly drop in U.S. crude supplies.
July crude tacked on 45 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $59.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after tallying a loss of more than 3% over the past three trading sessions.
Bullion prices ended lower on Tuesday, 16 June 2015. Gold futures settled lower Tuesday, giving up most of their gains from a day earlier as investors awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting on monetary policy.
Gold for August delivery at Comex fell $4.90, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,180.90 an ounce. Prices settled with a gain of 0.6% on Monday. July silver lost 11.8 cents, or 0.7%, to $15.965 an ounce after tacking on 1.6% a day earlier.
Economic data was limited to Housing Starts and Building Permits. Housing starts declined 11.1% in May to 1.036 million from an upwardly revised 1.165 million (from 1.135 million) in April while the consensus expected a decline to 1.100 million.
In April, housing starts rose 22.1%, which was a historic, multi-decade high. It was only natural for housing starts to pull back following such a large increase Even after the decline, May starts were above Q1 averages (978,000) and in-line with trends from Q4 2014 (1.055 million). Building permits rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.275 million in May from a revised 1.140 million for April (from 1.143 million) while the consensus expected a decline to 1.100 million.
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET while the latest FOMC policy statement will be released at 14:00 ET.
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