European stocks open lower
The negative sentiment from the start of the week continued into Tuesday’s open, with the regional Stoxx 600 index down 0.32% at 8:15 a.m. London time.
Utilities fell 1.3% while healthcare stocks rose 0.37%.
Britain’s FTSE 100 was flat, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 each fell around 0.4%.
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Stoxx 600 index.
Solar names go dark on Monday
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Barclays downgraded SolarEdge to the same weight, warning that the company and rival Enphase could be hurt by price cuts and loss of market share. SolarEdge fell nearly 5.4%, while Enphase fell 2.7%.
Sunrun fell 10% after Susquehanna cut its price target.
Other renewable energy names that had a difficult start to the month include Plug Power and Bloom Energy, which fell 10% and 8%, respectively.
-Darla Mercado, Ethan Kraft
The Nasdaq 100 index has rallied on the first day of trading for 14 consecutive weeks
The Nasdaq 100 index rose again on Monday, the 14th straight week that the benchmark for large-cap nonfinancial stocks traded on the Nasdaq exchange rallied on the first trading day of the week.
An intraday report from BTIG chief market technician Jonathan Krinsky said the last time the Nasdaq-100 did not see an increase on the first day of the week was June 26. The first day of trading was Tuesday, September 5, and the week of June 4 July, when Independence Day fell on a Tuesday and trading was halted.
“At this point, the ‘Green Monday/First Day of the Week’ arc is not only extremely rare, but simply bizarre,” Krinsky wrote. “Interestingly, as this series progresses from the end of June onwards [Nasdaq-100] has fallen slightly, so the strong start to the week will not result in a continuation.”
—Scott Schnipper, Michael Bloom
According to the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, a buying opportunity for municipal bonds is emerging
According to a Wells Fargo Investment Institute study, municipal bonds typically decline in September and October, but there could be a rise at the end of the year.
“Municipal bonds have historically experienced negative performance in September and, to a lesser extent, October,” wrote municipal analyst Dorian Jamison. He noted that municipal bonds returned -3.8% in September 2022, marking their worst performance month since 2018, according to the Bloomberg US Municipal Bond Index.
However, these bonds enjoy a boom in November and December. Last November, munis returned 4.7%, their best single month of performance since 2018, Jamison wrote.
“While past performance is not indicative of future results, we believe a decline in the market may provide a more attractive entry point into the final quarter of the year, when technical conditions are traditionally more favorable for municipalities,” he said.
Sectors that have outperformed the broader municipal market include tobacco, transportation and healthcare, Jamison said.
-Darla Mercado
Stock futures open little changed
Stock futures opened little changed on Monday after the 10-year Treasury yield rose in a session to its highest level since 2007.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4 points, or 0.01%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.03% while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.04%.
—Brian Evans