Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The indices have been unable to build on their early gains and have continued to fade back from higher levels. Bloomberg TV has reported that Qatar will temporarily suspend traffic over its airspace, offering a reminder that the Israel-Iran conflict, which was joined by the U.S. over the weekend, remains dynamic.

Three sectors are lower for the day -- health care (-0.3%), financials (-0.2%), and energy (-0.1%) -- yet none are down by an appreciable amount.

Separately, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is up 0.1%, but it had been up 1.1%. Our Briefing Trader contacts have pointed out that there is some decent put activity again on the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH 260.73, +0.46, +0.18%). The put/call ratio sits just above 3.0, which connotes an expectation for a pullback of some kind. 

The SMH is up 23.3% for the quarter.