• NASDAQ Composite +0.12% Dow +0.05% S&P 500 -0.02% Russell 2000 +0.15%
• NASDAQ Advancers: 1224 / Decliners: 816
• Today’s Volume (100day avg.): +2.6%

The Nasdaq Composite closed at a record high for the second session in a row yesterday; however, the SPX and Dow finished lower as new-year caution has taken hold of some investors. Major indexes opened flat today as investors remain cautious ahead of Trump’s scheduled news conference. Sector performance is mixed.

• The National Federation of Independent Business reported its optimism index jumped 7.4 points to 105.8, the strongest reading since 2004. JOLTS job openings were reported at 5.52 million virtually in line with survey expectations of 5.50 million. Wholesale inventories rose 1.0% for November vs. the 0.9% expected.
• Investors will focus on earnings Friday from the largest banks in the U.S. with Wells Fargo (WFC), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America Corp (BAC) all set to report. S&P 500 earnings for the fourth quarter are expected to rise 3% from the year-ago period and the bulk of that is expected to come from Financials, which have rallied sharply since the election.
• We’ve seen a bit of a pullback in the dollar, another indication of investor nervousness ahead of Trump’s news conference scheduled for Wednesday. This is the first time he has addressed the media since July. The dollar had been rising partly on a belief that the Trump administration’s fiscal stimulus will boost the economy. Lately the gains have stalled and the dollar index has traded lower in four of the past five trading sessions.
• Illumina is the S&P 500 biggest gainer, adding more than 14% after the company announced at yesterday’s JPMorgan Healthcare Conference the company will introduce a new DNA sequencer that can sequence a human genome within an hour. Allscript Healthcare Solution has jumped (+8%) to its highest level since early November, helped by reporting better-than-expected revenue in 2017.