Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages continue to hold their healthy early gains, with little in the way of new developments since the open to shake things up at the index level. 

The consumer discretionary sector (+1.9%) is among the top-performing S&P 500 sectors today, supported by strong leadership in Tesla (TSLA 427.50, +14.01, +3.39%). The stock trades higher as President Trump's comments over the weekend have eased investor sentiment around China tightening its export controls on rare earth materials, which are crucial in the manufacturing of electric vehicles. 

Amazon (AMZN 220.46, +4.09, +1.89%) also trades higher, with Bloomberg reporting that the company is set to hire 250,000 workers for the holiday season, in line with the previous two years. 

Elsewhere in the sector, Best Buy (BBY 76.72, +6.29, +8.93%) is one of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500, recouping some of Friday's losses that were exacerbated by the company's elevated exposure to imported electronics from China.