Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market is off to a solid start, paced by gains in the mega-cap stocks. Buying interest, however, is broad based across the market cap spectrum.

The positive bias has been fueled by some speculative energy surrounding Monday's inauguration of President Trump, Treasury yields calming down following this week's inflation reports, better-than-expected retail sales, industrial production, and GDP data reported by China, and ongoing earnings growth optimism.

The U.S. had some good economic data to report today, too, with December housing starts, building permits, industrial production, and capacity utilization all exceeding consensus estimates. That slate of good economic news tempered some of the buying interest in the Treasury market that had the 10-yr note yield at 4.57%. It now stands at 4.60%, down one basis point from yesterday's settlement but down 20 basis points from its peak on Tuesday.

The information technology (+1.5%) and consumer discretionary (+1.4%) sectors are at the top of the sector performance rankings to begin today's session.