Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] Following a quick recovery from the opening lows, it has been mostly sideways action for the broader market, with the indices not trading too far from yesterday's closing levels.

We would venture to say that behavior is indicative of summer trading conditions, only this is not a quiet summer environment in terms of news flow. There are many unresolved items as they relate to trade and tariffs, economic and earnings prospects, and domestic politics and geopolitics that have binary outcomes depending on when and how they are resolved.

Recognizing that the market's recovery off the April 7 lows has brought the S&P 500 back to a lofty valuation range where it was trading prior to the initial tariff upset, participants are approaching the market with a little more hesitation now than they have in recent weeks and months because the bar for a breakout extension is higher now.

To that end, the mega-cap stocks are exhibiting relative strength given that they have both defensive and offensive characteristics. The Vanguard Mega-Cap Growth ETF (MGK) is up just 0.3% today, but it is up 2.9% for the month and 14.8% for the quarter.