Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.9%), Nasdaq Composite (+1.5%), and DJIA (+0.5%) eclipsed their record high levels from Friday in short order as the market is buoyed by trade, policy, and earnings tailwinds. 

Six S&P 500 sectors hold early gains, led by the communication services sector (+1.7%), which is boosted by strength across the mega-caps sending Alphabet (GOOG 266.56, +6.04, +2.32%) and Meta Platforms (META 753.77, +15.41, +2.09%) higher. 

The information technology (+1.5%) and consumer discretionary (+1.2%) sectors hold similar gains as mega-caps continue to display leadership ahead of several key earnings reports this week. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is up 1.3%.

Meanwhile, defensive sectors are among today's laggards.