Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market is heading into the closing stretch of today's trading in mixed form. Still, that is much improved from the start when the indices were sharply lower.

Most stocks have pared their opening losses, which has manifested itself in the improvement in the major indices, but the major indices themselves have not fully recovered. The small-cap Russell 2000 is the weakest link today, down 0.7%.

Putting things in proper context, though, the Russell 2000 entering today had gained 21.9% from its April 7 low, so some consolidation activity can be expected.

The latter is true for the broader market, which has largely done nothing but go up since those April 7 lows.