[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks are gradually trimming their losses. That has put them at morning highs, but weakness remains widespread as 98% of the companies in the S&P 500 log losses.

Retailer Sears Holding (SHLD 73.07, +0.61) is one of the few advancers in the braoder market. Medical equipment and supplies outfit Baxter International (BAX 55.13, +0.38) is also putting together a gain.

Amid weakness in the broader market, volatility has spiked. In turn, the Volatility Index, or VIX, is up more than 13%. However, that is only half of the spike that the VIX had traded with at its morning high, which was reached at the open.