Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major indices are in positive territory but have had a challenging time of it in their bid to extend gains above the unchanged mark. The S&P 500 continues to hang around the 5,900 level, which has been acting as a staging ground of sorts, but for what -- a breakout or a breakdown -- we do not know.

A full overview of today's action, however, reflects a prevailing positive bias so far. Advancers lead decliners by a 2-to-1 margin at the NYSE and by a 4-to-3 margin at the Nasdaq, and 10 of the 11 S&P 500 sectors are in positive territory.

The gains for the sectors, though, are modest at best. The rate-sensitive utilities (+0.8%) and real estate (+0.8%) sectors are the biggest winners, bolstered by the 10-yr note yield's descent from 4.53% in the overnight trade to its current standing of 4.42%.

That reversal has coincided with a reversal in the U.S. Dollar Index, which had been up 0.7% at 100.54 but is now down 0.6% at 99.25 as the euro and yen show some strength against the greenback.