Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+1.0%), Nasdaq Composite (+1.7%), and DJIA (+0.6%) opened to record highs this morning, fueled by reports that the U.S. and China have reached a framework trade agreement.

Mega-caps pace the gains ahead of a busy week of earnings releases that will see five of the "magnificent seven" names report results.  All seven names hold gains wider than 1.0%, which pushes the communication services (+1.9%), consumer discretionary (+1.8%), and information technology (+1.6%) sectors to similar gains as that of the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (+1.6%). 

Within the consumer discretionary sector, Tesla (TSLA 455.90, +22.18, +5.11%) is a standout among the mega-caps after sitting out Friday's rally to the tune of a 3.4% loss.

Separately, lululemon athletica (LULU 183.62, +5.45, +3.06%) is another top mover after announcing an apparel deal with the NFL and Fanatics that will feature the logos of all 32 NFL teams.

The technology sector receives an additional boost from its chipmaker components, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index 2.4% higher. 

Qualcomm (QCOM 190.71, +21.77, +12.88%) is surging higher after the company unveiled its new AI200 and AI250 accelerator chips, marking a major push into the high-performance AI infrastructure market dominated by NVIDIA (NVDA 190.94, +4.68, +2.51%).

Shares of NVIDIA are seemingly taking the news in stride. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 254.52, +1.60, +0.63%), which is another leader in the space, briefly dipped below its baseline, though it quickly recovered after Reuters reported the company and the U.S. Department of Energy have partnered to build two supercomputers.

Meanwhile, the financials (+0.4%), energy (+0.4%), industrials (+0.3%), and real estate (+0.3%) sectors hold more modest gains. 

The consumer staples sector (-0.4%) holds the widest loss despite a nice gain in Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP 29.10, +1.94, +7.16%) after posting a strong Q3 earnings report and raising its FY25 outlook. 

Weakness across defensive sectors also keeps the utilities (-0.3%) and health care (-0.1%) sectors in negative territory. 

The materials sector (-0.4%) also faces a loss as precious metal prices continue to fall from record highs. 

Outside of the S&P 500, the small-cap Russell 2000 (+0.2%) eclipsed a new record high, though it has since fallen 0.9 percentage points from earlier highs. The S&P Mid Cap 400 (+0.4%) holds a similar gain.