‘Twas a pretty flat day overall but still, with all three major indexes closing ever so slightly in the black, it made for another record setting day for the S&P and Dow. The bad news today was a dent in consumer optimism as reported by the University of Michigan showing it at its lowest level in a decade and attributed to consumer COVID fatigue brought on by the Delta variant. But the objective data shows the consumer is in great shape and, as today’s expert says, “healthy enough to spend and kind of keep the economy afloat.” But overall, good news abounds. 

The recovery is going well, Q2 is going great, an infrastructure bill is looking real and inflation is less than feared. The biggest concerns now are the conflicting reports between consumer and producer prices (consumer down, producer way up) and the markets will look to Jackson Hole for clarity on tapering. Volume remains below average at just under 8 billion. 

Fri  August 13, 2021  4:46 PM

Dow, S&P close at records as Disney offsets drop in sentiment

By Chuck Mikolajczak

DJ: 35,499.85  +14.88        NAS: 14,816.26  +51.13        S&P: 4,460.83  +13.13     8/12

DJ: 35,515.38  +15.53        NAS: 14,822.90  +6.64          S&P: 4,468.00  +7.17       8/13

NEW YORK, Aug 13 (Reuters) - The Dow Industrial and S&P 500 edged up to closing records on Friday and notched a second straight week of gains, buoyed by a climb in Walt Disney shares, but a sharp drop in consumer sentiment kept gains in check.  Walt Disney (DIS.N) rose 1.00% as one of the biggest boosts to both the Dow and benchmark S&P index after its profit topped market expectations as its streaming services added more customers than expected and its pandemic-hit U.S. theme parks returned to profitability. read more  But a report from the University of Michigan dented optimism after it showed the university's preliminary consumer sentiment index fell to 70.2, its lowest level in a decade, suggesting that the Delta variant of the coronavirus was impacting consumers. read more

"That is concerning, the consumer is by all accounts in an extremely strong position but there is this kind of COVID fatigue that is really starting to wear on people’s sentiment," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird in Louisville, Kentucky.  "Regardless of lockdown or full reopen, the consumer is healthy enough to spend and kind of keep the economy afloat, it will be different names and different sectors that become the beneficiaries of it."

The report sent the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note lower and in turn helped lift mega-cap growth names, such as Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), up 1.05%, while online retail giant Amazon (AMZN.O) slipped 0.29%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 15.53 points, or 0.04%, to 35,515.38, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 7.17 points, or 0.16%, to 4,468 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 6.64 points, or 0.04%, to 14,822.90.  For the week, the Dow gained 0.87%, the S&P 500 advanced 0.71% and the Nasdaq slipped 0.09%.

U.S. stocks have managed to slowly grind to new highs over the past few sessions as investor confidence in economic recovery was bolstered by a strong earnings season, the passage of a large infrastructure bill and data showing inflation may be increasing at a slower pace than feared.

In the wake of new data from earlier this week that showed consumer price increases slowed in July, while producer prices posted their biggest annual rise in more than a decade, investors are now looking ahead to the meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this month for cues on policy.  In recent days, several Fed officials said it is nearly time for the central bank to begin pulling back on its monetary support, including the tapering of its asset purchases. read more

DoorDash Inc (DASH.N) rose 3.50% in choppy trading after the food-delivery firm's loss widened more than expected in the second quarter. read more  Airbnb Inc (ABNB.O) gained 1.07% as it recovered from earlier declines, after it flagged a hit to its current-quarter bookings by the Delta variant and a slowing pace of U.S. vaccination. read more

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.99 billion shares, compared with the 9.42 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

The S&P 500 posted 60 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 87 new highs and 159 new lows.