At 11:07 a.m. today the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 0.80%. At the close it was down 0.55%.
Same picture for the small cap Russell 2000 index. Up 1.65% at 10:54 a.m. New York time. Down 2.26% at the close.
What looked like one of the rotation markets we’ve seen recently with selling of technology shares and buying of cyclicals and post-vaccine recovery stocks in the morning turned into a market-wide sell off by the close.
For example, technology momentum stocks Teladoc (TDOC), Square (SQ), and Twilio (TWLO) closed the day down 6.07%, 4.34%, and 7.86%, respectively.
But post-vaccine recovery stocks MGM Resorts International (MGM), Shake Shack (SHAK), and Disney (DIS) also finished down on the day by 1.12%, 3.66%, and 2.12%, respectively.
It is easier to list what went up today than to detail what sold off. Quality cyclicals such as Caterpillar (CAT) and Deere (DE) gained 1.34% and 1.04%, respectively. Chip equipment makers ASML (ASML) and Applied Materials (AMAT) closed head 3.53% and 4.06%. Box-maker WestRock (WRK) picked up 2.21%. Coca-Cola (KO) added 0.21% and Verizon (VZ) rose 0.16%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped 2 basis points to 1.61% as bond prices continued to move higher on solid Treasury auctions ahead of the big seven-year auction tomorrow.
The “fear index” moved up 4.78% with the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) ending the day at 22.27.
