Stocks Hover Near Records, but Market Breadth Is Weak

Stocks Hover Near Records, but Market Breadth Is Weak

The stock market ticked higher in morning trading and was hovering near record levels as the last wave of inflation data of the year loomed.

The Dow was up 30 points, or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.5%. Market breadth was weak, with only 141 S&P stocks on the rise and more than half of the Dow on the decline.

Sevens Report Research’s Tom Essaye told Barron’s the market is biding its time until tomorrow’s consumer price index. But with the year wrapping up near record levels, Essaye argues it will take a surprisingly hot reading to shake up the major indexes.