Here is a daily recap of the S&P 500 broken down by sector followed by sector heat map as US Mexico trade deal spark investor optimism. Stocks in heat map are based on the top 10 holdings of each sector ETF. Click on each picture to zoom in. Below is a summary of today’s action on Wall Street provided by CNBC:

US stocks set to open higher after Powell signals ‘further, gradual’ rate hikes

U.S. stock index futures traded higher Monday, following reassuring comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the central bank’s policy-tightening path. Dow futures were seen trading 80 points higher, indicating a positive open of 84 points, while S&P and Nasdaq futures were also in the black.

The S&P 500 (SPY) closed in the green by +0.77% today. Sector advancers led decliners 10 to 2 as shown below in the sector graph. Financials (XLF) +1.35%, materials (XLB) +1.30% and industrials (XLI) +1.26% led advancers. Communication services (XLC), consumer discretionary (XLY), consumer staples (XLP), energy (XLE), healthcare (XLV) and technology (XLK) each had small gains of less than 1%. Real estate (XLRE) and utilities (XLU) each had minor losses of less than 1%.

The Dow Jones index added +259 points (+1.01%) to close at 26,049. The Nasdaq rallied +71 points (+0.91%) to settle at 8,017.

US Mexico Trade Deal Spark Investor Optimism

Stocks climbed on Monday after the US and Mexico closed a new trade deal, lifting investor optimism. The S&P 500 closed at a record high. The Nasdaq settled above 8,000 for the first time. When reading the above CNBC article, I came across this quote that best describes today’s current market sentiment, “The market has been buffeted with a lot of headwinds lately, and the biggest one is trade,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR. “If you were to take trade out of the picture, you would have a smoother ride higher in this market.”

Key Takeaways…

I took the following CNBC screenshot this morning regarding low volatility names and momentum returns:

Notable S&P Movers…

Below I’ve highlighted some notable S&P movers (both winners & losers).

Credit: Sector Graph provided by Sector SPDR app. Sector breakdown provided by Charles Schwab. Sector heat map provided by finviz. Information Credit: News Headlines and quotes were taken from CNBC in the writing of this post.

8/27/18

S&P 500 Sector Graph

S&P 500 (SPY)

Communication Services (XLC)

Consumer Discretionary (XLY)

Consumer Staples (XLP)

Energy (XLE)

Financials (XLF)

Real Estate (XLRE)

Healthcare (XLV)

Industrials (XLI)

Materials (XLB)

Technology (XLK)

Utilities (XLU)

S&P 500 Sector Heat Map