Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (-0.2%), Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%), and DJIA (-0.2%) hold modest losses after some choppy action this morning. 

Broad-based gains at the open quickly faded to mixed action as the information technology sector (-0.8%) retreated into negative territory, extending its slide from the back half of last week. 

Broadcom (AVGO 342.56, -17.37, -4.83%) and Oracle (ORCL 185.74, -4.23, -2.23%) extend their post-earnings losses that reignited valuation concerns in the AI trade, though NVIDIA (NVDA 177.41, +2.39, +1.37%) and a handful of other chipmakers in the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+0.1%) help prevent further losses. 

ServiceNow (NOW 767.14, -97.92, -11.32%) is the worst-performing S&P 500 name, sinking after Bloomberg reported that the company is looking to acquire Armis for approximately $7 billion. The stock was downgraded to Underweight from Sector Weight with a $775 target at KeyBanc.

Elsewhere, the communication services sector (-0.4%) holds a more modest loss as its top component, Alphabet (GOOG 306.93, -3.59, -1.16%), trades lower. The company has stirred a retreat in real estate listing companies such as Zillow (ZG 66.05, -6.33, -8.75%) and CoStar Group (CSGP 63.50, -4.73, -6.93%) after Aim Group reported the company looks to test real estate listings by putting them directly into search results.

Separately, the energy sector (-1.4%) has spent the session as the worst performer as the price of crude oil decreases $0.75 (-1.3%) to $56.69 per barrel. 

Four S&P 500 sectors still hold gains, though they are increasingly narrow, with only the health care (+0.9%) and consumer discretionary (+0.5%) sectors holding gains wider than 0.2%. 

The health care sector continues to see some rotational interest as mega-cap stocks lag. Bristol-Myers (BMY 54.18, +1.77, +3.38%) is the sector's best performer, supported by an upgrade to Buy from Neutral at Bank of America Securities with a target of $61. 

The sector's largest component, Eli Lilly (LLY 1055.53, +28.02, +2.73%), also contributes strength, extending last week's bounce off its lowest level since early November.

A solid gain in Tesla (TSLA 475.08, +16.12, +3.51%) underpins the consumer discretionary sector's gain that has been considerably thinned from session highs. Cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean (RCL 286.38, +7.52, +2.70%) and Carnival (CCL 28.37, +0.75, +2.73%), and travel agencies such as Expedia Group (EXPE 282.39, +8.18, +2.98%) and Booking Holdings (BKNG 5443.98, +142.34, +2.68%) are among the other outperformers in the sector. 

Outside of the S&P, smaller-cap names are not garnering as much rotational interest as they were last week, as evidenced by losses in the Russell 2000 (-0.5%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (-0.3%). 

Breadth figures have shifted negative, with decliners now outpacing advancers by a roughly 5-to-4 margin on the NYSE and a roughly 7-to-4 clip on the Nasdaq. 

Reviewing today's data:

• December Empire State Manufacturing -3.9 (Briefing.com consensus 10.6); Prior 18.7
• December NAHB Housing Market Index 39 (Briefing.com consensus 39); Prior 38