Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] It is a tightly-wound stock market today with the major indices all up 0.3% to 0.4%. That wasn't always the case. The Nasdaq Composite had been down as much as 0.5%, but it has recovered with its mega-cap constituents bouncing back from lower levels.

Amazon.com (AMZN 214.30, +5.39, +2.6%) is the party leader today in that respect, making a nice move that is the cornerstone of the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector's (+1.3%) outperformance and a key driver of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Goldman Sachs (GS 598.47, +5.88, +1.0%), Home Depot (HD 409.80, +6.72, +1.7%), Microsoft (MSFT 428.09, +5.06, +1.2%), and Sherwin-Williams (SHW 387.38, +3.71, +1.0%) are other high-priced stocks chipping in to help lead the price-weighted average. Separately, Walt Disney (DIS 102.19, +1.21, +1.2%), which reports its quarterly results before Thursday's open, is also pitching in.

UnitedHealth (UNH 606.46, -8.21, -1.3%), Caterpillar (CAT 389.19, -3.82, -1.0%), McDonald's (MCD 296.91, -1.74, -0.6%), and Boeing (BA 141.68, -3.49, -2.4%) are among today's laggards that are keeping the Dow Jones Industrial Average from doing even better.