Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major indices moved slightly higher over the last half hour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average trades roughly flat while the S&P 500 shows a 0.2% gain.

Macy's (M 19.91, +1.96, +11.0%) is among the winning standouts today after Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management upped their bid to take the department store chain private. The stock is not an S&P 500 component, but other retailers are trading up in sympathy, leading the SPDR S&P Retailer ETF (XRT) to trade 0.2% higher. 

The positive price action in some retailers has contributed to the outperformance of the consumer discretionary sector, which sports a 0.5% gain. Amazon.com (AMZN 200.1, +2.58, +1.3%) and Tesla (TSLA 248.92, +2.49, +1.0%) are also influential winners from the consumer discretionary sector.