Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.4%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%), and DJIA (+0.2%) hold modest gains after the open as six S&P 500 sectors hold early gains. 

Unsurprisingly, the consumer discretionary sector (-0.4%) holds the widest loss after Tesla's (TSLA 417.74, -21.23, -4.84%) earnings miss, though the stock's weakness has not yet brought other mega-cap names lower in sympathy. The Vanguard Mega-Cap Growth ETF is up 0.5%. 

Meanwhile, the energy sector (+1.1%) is up nicely as oil prices continue to climb following the U.S. sanctions on several large Russian oil companies. 

The industrials sector (+1.1%) benefits from Honeywell's (HON 218.08, +11.47, +5.55%) earnings beat, with several other top aerospace and defense companies posting strong results earlier in the week. 

Lam Research (LRCX 144.44, +3.19, +2.26%) is another earnings beneficiary, helping the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+1.5%) recover from yesterday's retreat. The broader information technology sector is currently up 0.6%.

Just released, Existing Home Sales for September increased to 4.06 mln (Briefing.com consensus: 4.05 mln) from a prior level of 4.00 mln.