Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market opened to gains on below-average volume at the NYSE. The light participation is in front of the holiday-related closures this week. The equity market closes at 1:00 p.m. ET today and will be closed tomorrow for Christmas.

Today's session marks the official start to the "Santa Claus Rally" period (last five trading days of the year and first two trading days of the new year), which doesn't guarantee gains for the market, but usually features a positive skew. 

The leaders in the stock market thus far have included some heavily-weighted sectors like information technology (+0.7%) and financials (+0.3%). The health care sector shows the "biggest" decline, trading 0.4% lower. 

Treasury yields are slightly higher, but that hasn't deterred buyers in the stock market. The 10-yr yield is up two basis points to 4.62%.