[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks opened mostly lower, with weakness in the broader market and a continuation of recent pressure across semiconductors and mega-cap stocks sending the S&P 500 (-0.5%), Nasdaq Composite (-0.7%), and DJIA (-0.4%) lower.

The information technology sector (-0.4%) is modestly lower, having spent the opening half hour oscillating around its baseline. Semiconductor stocks garnered some early buying interest, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index higher initially, though the gains did not hold and the index is now down 1.2%.

Meanwhile, software names are showing some resilience, with the iShares GS Software ETF up 1.5%

The defensive health care (+0.7%), consumer staples (+0.3%), and utilites (+0.1%), sectors hold modest gains, while the other eight S&P 500 sectors trade at or below their baselines.

The materials sector (-2.4%) holds the widest loss, facing broad pressure and particular weakness across construction names such as Vulcan Materials (VMC 258.63, -7.70, -2.89%) and Martin Marietta (MLM 536.75, -19.03, -3.42%).

The industrials sector (-0.9%) also lags, while weakness across mega-cap names pushes the consumer discretionary (-1.3%) and communication services (-0.9%) sectors lower. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is down 0.4% as the market's leaders face an early extension of yesterday's weakness.

Just released, pending home sales increased 1.4% in April (Briefing.com consensus 1.6%), from an upwardly revised prior increase of 1.7% (from 1.5%).

The stock market remains on track for a lower opening this morning as tech names, and in particular, semiconductor stocks, move lower in the premarket. The price action of the group will come under increasing focus as NVIDIA's (NVDA 220.07, -2.25, -1.0%) earnings report looms tomorrow after the close.

Headlines are relatively muted this morning, though the market remains attuned to any geopolitical headlines that result in swings in oil prices and Treasury yields.

The S&P 500 futures currently trade 20 points below fair value. 

Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region had mixed showing on Tuesday with South Korea's Kospi (-3.3%) deepening its retreat from a record amid concerns about a potential employee strike at Samsung. Japanese debt slid to fresh lows for the year ahead of tomorrow's 20-yr JGB auction. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan is expected to meet with JGB investors on Thursday and Friday. Reserve Bank of Australia's chief economist warned that inflation risks are drifting higher.

• In economic data:
  • Japan's Q1 GDP 0.5% qtr/qtr (expected 0.4%; prior 0.2%); 2.1% yr/yr (expected 1.7%; last 0.8%). Q1 GDP Price Index 3.4% yr/yr (expected 3.1%; prior 3.4%), GDP External Demand 0.3% qtr/qtr (expected 0.2%; prior 0.0%), GDP Capital Expenditure 0.3% qtr/qtr (expected 0.2% prior 1.4%), GDP Private Consumption 0.3% qtr/qtr (expected 0.2%; prior 0.0%). March Industrial Production -0.4% m/m (expected -0.5%; prior -2.0%) and Capacity Utilization -1.2% m/m (prior -0.1%). March Tertiary Industry Activity Index 16.5 (expected -0.4; prior -1.1)
  • Hong Kong's April Unemployment Rate 3.7% (prior 3.7%)
  • Australia's May Westpac Consumer Sentiment 3.5% (prior -12.5%)
  • New Zealand's Q1 Input PPI 1.4% (expected 0.8%; prior -0.5%) and Output PPI 0.8% qtr/qtr (expected 0.5%; last 0.1%). April Electronic Card Retail Sales -1.3% m/m (prior 0.7%); 2.0% yr/yr (last 2.7%)

---Equity Markets---

• Japan's Nikkei: -0.5%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng: +0.5%
• China's Shanghai Composite: +0.9%
• India's Sensex: -0.2%
• South Korea's Kospi: -3.3%
• Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: +1.1%

Major European indices trade in the green. The EU's Economic Commissioner Dombrovskis said that G-7 has made progress on critical minerals. Elsewhere, Bank of England policymaker Breeden spoke about the potential benefits of tokenization. The EU is looking at ways to counter food inflation. The U.S. Treasury extended a temporary sanction waiver on Russian seaborne oil.

• In economic data:
  • Eurozone's March trade surplus EUR7.8 bln (expected EUR5.4 bln; prior EUR11.1 bln)
  • U.K.'s March three-month employment change 148,000 (expected 107,000; prior 25,000), March Unemployment Rate 5.0% (expected 4.9%; prior 4.9%), March Average Earnings Index + Bonus 4.1% (expected 3.8%; prior 3.9%), and April Claimant Count Change 26,500 (expected 23,100; prior 4,900). Q4 Labor Productivity -0.5% (prior -0.5%)

---Equity Markets---

• STOXX Europe 600: +0.8%
• Germany's DAX: +1.5%
• U.K.'s FTSE 100: +0.6%
• France's CAC 40: +0.8%
• Italy's FTSE MIB: +0.1%
• Spain's IBEX 35: +0.4%

The S&P 500 futures currently trade 27 points below fair value.

Blackstone (BX 118.04, +1.00, +0.9%) announced a joint venture with Alphabet (GOOG 395.13, +2.02, +0.5%) to create a new U.S.-based company that will offer efficient data center capacity, operations, networking, and Google Cloud's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) as a compute-as-a-service offering. The company will give customers another option to access cloud TPUs in addition to using them through Google Cloud.

Equity futures point to a lower opening this morning as mega-cap and tech stocks are poised for a continuation of yesterday's weakness. Losses across growth stocks pushed the major averages to a mostly lower finish in Monday's session, though the indices ended well off their worst levels. The broader market provided solid support, which helped ease some concerns surrounding the market's recent narrow leadership.

Additionally, the market received a late-session boost in the form of a Truth Social post from President Trump, in which he said the U.S. will postpone planned strikes on Iran at the request of neighboring Gulf leaders while negotiations continue. Geopolitical headlines are relatively muted this morning, and oil prices are modestly lower.

Treasuries followed last week's sharp selloff and surge in yields with a quieter session on Monday, and yields are little changed so far this morning. Still, the recent jump in oil prices and renewed inflation concerns continue to cloud the rate outlook. 

In corporate news:

• Analog Devices (ADI 413.10, -5.48, -1.3%) is nearing an agreement to acquire Empower Semiconductor, according to Bloomberg.
• Home Depot (HD 298.46, -1.36, -0.5%) beat EPS expectations by $0.02, reported revenues in-line, and reaffirmed FY27 EPS and revenue guidance.
• Intel (INTC 106.80, -1.37, -1.3%) and Qualcomm (QCOM 198.92, -4.72, -2.3%) are interested in the acquisition of Tenstorrent, according to Bloomberg.

Reviewing overnight developments:

Equity indices in the Asia-Pacific region had mixed showing on Tuesday with South Korea's Kospi (-3.3%) deepening its retreat from a record amid concerns about a potential employee strike at Samsung. Japan's Nikkei: -0.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng: +0.5%, China's Shanghai Composite: +0.9%, India's Sensex: -0.2%, South Korea's Kospi: -3.3%, Australia's ASX All Ordinaries: +1.1%.

In news:

• Japanese debt slid to fresh lows for the year ahead of tomorrow's 20-yr JGB auction.
• Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan is expected to meet with JGB investors on Thursday and Friday.
• Reserve Bank of Australia's chief economist warned that inflation risks are drifting higher.

In economic data:

• Japan's Q1 GDP 0.5% qtr/qtr (expected 0.4%; prior 0.2%); 2.1% yr/yr (expected 1.7%; last 0.8%). Q1 GDP Price Index 3.4% yr/yr (expected 3.1%; prior 3.4%), GDP External Demand 0.3% qtr/qtr (expected 0.2%; prior 0.0%), GDP Capital Expenditure 0.3% qtr/qtr (expected 0.2% prior 1.4%), GDP Private Consumption 0.3% qtr/qtr (expected 0.2%; prior 0.0%). March Industrial Production -0.4% m/m (expected -0.5%; prior -2.0%) and Capacity Utilization -1.2% m/m (prior -0.1%). March Tertiary Industry Activity Index 16.5 (expected -0.4; prior -1.1)
• Hong Kong's April Unemployment Rate 3.7% (prior 3.7%)
• Australia's May Westpac Consumer Sentiment 3.5% (prior -12.5%)
• New Zealand's Q1 Input PPI 1.4% (expected 0.8%; prior -0.5%) and Output PPI 0.8% qtr/qtr (expected 0.5%; last 0.1%). April Electronic Card Retail Sales -1.3% m/m (prior 0.7%); 2.0% yr/yr (last 2.7%)

Major European indices trade in the green. STOXX Europe 600: +0.8%, Germany's DAX: +1.3%, U.K.'s FTSE 100: +0.4%, France's CAC 40: +0.5%, Italy's FTSE MIB: -0.2%, Spain's IBEX 35: +0.2%.

In news:

• The EU's Economic Commissioner Dombrovskis said that G-7 has made progress on critical minerals.
• Elsewhere, Bank of England policymaker Breeden spoke about the potential benefits of tokenization.
• The EU is looking at ways to counter food inflation.
• The U.S. Treasury extended a temporary sanction waiver on Russian seaborne oil.

In economic data:

• Eurozone's March trade surplus EUR7.8 bln (expected EUR5.4 bln; prior EUR11.1 bln)
• U.K.'s March three-month employment change 148,000 (expected 107,000; prior 25,000), March Unemployment Rate 5.0% (expected 4.9%; prior 4.9%), March Average Earnings Index + Bonus 4.1% (expected 3.8%; prior 3.9%), and April Claimant Count Change 26,500 (expected 23,100; prior 4,900). Q4 Labor Productivity -0.5% (prior -0.5%)

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market started the week on shaky footing, with tech weakness and shifting geopolitical developments leading the S&P 500 (-0.1%), Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%), and DJIA (+0.3%) to a mostly lower finish.

Oil prices experienced volatility today in response to headlines surrounding the state of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. Oil initially moved lower amid reports of potential sanction easing and an unconfirmed modified peace plan, but subsequent reports indicated the two sides remain far apart on negotiations.

Crude oil futures settled today's session $3.26 higher (+3.1%) at $108.75 per barrel, but oil prices moved lower late in the afternoon after President Trump wrote on Truth Social that he has called off planned military strikes against Iran "in that serious negotiations are now taking place."

The headline helped stocks move off their worst levels of the session late in the afternoon.

The information technology sector (-1.0%) still closed with the widest loss, but recovered nearly half of its previous weakness. Semiconductor stocks faced a continuation of Friday's losses, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index finishing 2.5% lower.

Seagate Tech (STX 740.50, -54.97, -6.91%) underperformed after Bloomberg reported that the company's CEO said building new factories "would take too long" when asked how Seagate plans to keep pace with surging memory demand, which weighed on other memory names.

Lumentum (LITE 884.98, -85.72, -8.83%) was the worst performer in the sector as electrical product names, which have increasingly moved in lockstep with semiconductor names, also retreated today. That weakness weighed on Vertiv (VRT 339.73, -31.21, -8.41%) and other related names, contributing to weakness in the industrials sector (-0.4%).

Losses were more modest elsewhere, with the consumer discretionary sector (-0.2%) pressured by weak leadership from Tesla (TSLA 410.06, -12.18, -2.88%), while the materials sector (-0.1%) finished just slightly lower.

Meanwhile, the broader market showed resilience despite the oil-driven volatility and tech weakness, with seven S&P 500 sectors finishing higher.

The financials sector (+1.2%) was supported by another strong showing from financial services names such as FactSet (FDS 224.35, +11.77, +5.54%), while the consumer staples sector (+1.3%) moved higher in broad fashion, and the real estate sector (+1.1%) rebounded from Friday's rate-driven weakness.

The energy sector (+1.8%) captured the widest gain amid the increase in oil prices today.

Outside of the S&P 500, the S&P Mid Cap 400 (-0.2%) finished modestly lower, while the Russell 2000 (-0.7%) lagged amid the weakness in growth stocks today.

Even with the market's recent leaders facing pressure today, the broader market helped stabilize the major averages, as highlighted by the outperformance of the S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index (+0.6%) relative to the market-weighted S&P 500 (-0.1%). With analyst commentary increasingly focused on the narrow leadership behind the market's recent record highs, today's session offered some encouragement for broader participation amid rotational buying across several sectors.

Attention will now increasingly shift toward NVIDIA's (NVDA 222.36, -2.96, -1.31%) earnings report later this week, which could play a major role in determining whether momentum across the AI trade reaccelerates.

U.S. Treasuries started the week on a quiet note, giving in to modest selling pressure that kept the market from building on its early strength. The 2-year note yield settled up one basis point to 4.09%, and the 10-year note yield settled up three basis points to 4.62%.

• Nasdaq Composite: +12.3% YTD
• Russell 2000: +11.8% YTD
• S&P Mid Cap 400: +9.0% YTD
• S&P 500: +8.1% YTD
• DJIA: +3.4% YTD

Reviewing today's data:

• The NAHB Housing Market Index rose to 37 in May (Briefing.com consensus 34) from 34 in April.