Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The indices are holding near their best levels of the morning, but have come back in just a bit. The highs seen earlier for the S&P 500 (5523.64) and Nasdaq Composite (18,035.00) were both record highs.

True to their June form, the semiconductor stocks are outperforming the market. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is up 1.8%, leaving it up 7.7% for the month and 12.5% for the quarter.

Today's outperformance is bolstering the information technology sector (+0.8%), which had been up as much as 1.6% earlier. The sector is currently up 10.7% for the month and 15.1% for the quarter. That's a big move in a short period of time, so each move higher attracts calls that suggest the sector is due for a consolidation period.