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Stock Market News for Mar 28, 2023

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U.S. stocks ended mostly higher on Monday as fears of a liquidity crisis spilling over in the banking sector waned but investors remained concerned about the economy’s health. However, tech stocks took a hit, which saw the Nasdaq finishing in the red. The Dow and S&P 500 ended in positive territory.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.6% or 194.55 points to finish at 32,432.08 points.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.2% or 6.54 points to close at 3,977.53 points. Energy and financial stocks were the biggest gainers.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) gained 2.1%, while the Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) rose 1.4%. Eight of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in positive territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.5% or 55.12 points to end at 11,768.84 points.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 5.24% to 20.60. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.57-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.44-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues. A total of 10.32 billion shares were traded on Monday, lower than the last 20-session average of 12.9 billion.

Market Sentiments Improve

All three indexes ended higher last week despite market volatility as Fed officials assured that the banking sector wasn’t facing any liquidity crisis. The positive sentiment continued through Monday as investors looked confident on waning signs of banking sector stress.

Shares of European banks stabilized after First Citizens Banchshares Inc. ((FCNCA - Free Report) ) agreed to purchase the deposits and loans of insolvent Silicon Valley Bank. Following this, shares of First Citizens jumped 53.7%.

This sent stocks of other regional banks on a rally.  Shares of First Republic Bank () also jumped 11.8%. Big banks also gained on the news with shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. ((JPM - Free Report) ) increasing 2.9%, while Bank of America Corporation ((BAC - Free Report) ) rallied 5%. Bank of America has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Understandably, investors’ sentiment is improving, which is helping the markets but the crisis is far from over as concerns over the economy’s health continue to grow. This has seen trading particularly choppy over the past few weeks as investors have been showing signs of nervousness over banking sector stress while also appreciating the lower bond yields those worries brought about.    

Technology stocks took a hit on Monday as Fed’s recent 25 basis point interest rate hike once again dampened spirits of a positive outlook for high-growth stocks. Shares of Apple Inc. ((AAPL - Free Report) ) declined 1.2%, while Alphabet Inc. ((GOOGL - Free Report) ) fell 2.8%.

No economic data was released on Monday.

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