Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages continue to trade in a stable range just before midday. 

This morning's batch of earnings reports was light in comparison to the rest of the week, with Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP 29.07, +1.91, +7.04%) the most notable name to report.

The stock holds a nice gain after reporting EPS in-line with expectations, beating revenue expectations, raising its sales growth guidance, and reaffirming its EPS outlook. 

The Q3 report comes on the heels of big news announced in August when KDP announced plans to acquire Amsterdam-based JDE Peet's for €15.7 billion, which includes a plan to separate into two independent, yet to be named, US-listed publicly traded companies: Beverage Co. and Global Coffee Co. Investors have not been enthused, as the stock has since fallen more than 20%. However, the company's top-line acceleration, confident tone on coffee demand recovery, and the $7 billion equity injection to ease leverage concerns collectively reset sentiment.

Despite the nice gain from KDP, the consumer staples sector (-0.4%) is among the worst-performing sectors today, as around half of its components (including its five largest names) hold losses.