Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major indices opened today's session on a higher note, as presaged by the equity futures market. They did so without much support from the heavily-weighted information technology sector (-0.2%), which has slipped into negative territory.

Stocks have had a great run since the August 5 lows, which is why there is some thinking that they are overextended and due for a pullback. The tech sector's performance will be watched closely as a possible harbinger of a consolidation phase.

The way things stand now, support is showing up in other places to help offset the relative weakness of the tech sector. Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors are higher with gains ranging from 0.1% to 1.3%.

The energy sector (+1.3%) is at the top of today's performance list, but remains at the bottom of the performance list on a week-to-date basis (-1.8%).

Just in, the final September University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment checked in at 70.1 (Briefing.com consensus 69.0) versus the preliminary reading of 69.0.