Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.1%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%), and DJIA (+0.4%) captured fresh record highs with their opening moves as tech names continue to display strong leadership despite the broader market moving mostly lower. 

The information technology sector (+0.7%) drives the early gains, with Microsoft (MSFT 546.84, +15.32, +2.88%) an early standout after the company announced its next generation of partnership with OpenAI. 

NVIDIA (NVDA 193.28, +1.80, +0.94%) holds a nice gain despite chipmakers largely seeing some profit-taking, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index 0.3% lower. 

Some persisting mega-cap strength keeps the consumer discretionary sector (+0.1%) in positive territory, while the materials sector (+0.2%) also holds a modest gain.

Of the eight sectors that have moved lower, the real estate (-2.0%) and utilities (-1.5%) sectors face the widest losses.

Just released, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell to 94.6 in October (Briefing.com consensus 94.2) from an upwardly revised 95.6 (from 94.2) in September.