Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.2%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%), and DJIA (+0.3%) hold decent early gains as the market sees another "buy the dip" play unfold after yesterday's retreat. 

Eight S&P 500 sectors hold gains, though they are modest in size, with only the utilities (+0.6%) and consumer staples (+0.6%) sectors holding gains wider than 0.5%. 

Oracle (ORCL 302.97, +6.01, +2.02%) trades higher again today, contributing to a 0.3% gain in the information technology sector. Despite Intel (INTC 38.78, +0.98, +2.59%) and NVIDIA (NVDA 194.07, +1.50, +0.78%) holding gains, relative weakness among chipmakers has the PHLX Semiconductor Index down 0.2% in the early going. 

Meanwhile, the energy sector (-0.8%) lags as the price of oil moves back beneath $61.00 per barrel. 

Just released, the preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment reading for October checked in at 55.0 (Briefing.com consensus: 54.5) versus the final September reading of 55.1.