Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (-1.5%), Nasdaq Composite (-2.0%), and DJIA (-1.1%) trade near session lows following President Trump's remarks about China. 

Decliners now outpace advancers by a greater than 3-to-1 ratio on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq, with nine S&P 500 sectors now trading lower. 

The defensive consumer staples (+0.6%) and utilities (+0.4%) sectors hold on to their earlier gains, with reaction to Trump's comments actually providing a boost to the defensive sectors. 

Within the top-performing consumer staples sector, Walmart (WMT 102.89, +1.12, +1.10%) provides strong leadership after moving lower yesterday as its competitor Costco (COST 934.82, -8.07, -0.86%) had impressed investors with its September sales data. 

PepsiCo (PEP 149.85, +5.14, +3.55%) continues to show post-earnings strength, with today's gain the widest across the S&P 500.