Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market is seeking an upbeat finish to Q2 with the S&P 500 (+0.3%) and Nasdaq (+0.2%) reaching fresh record highs while the Dow (+0.4%) outperforms today, but it still has another 2.5% to go before reaching a record high of its own.

The final session of June and Q2 started with some trade related optimism after Canada scrapped its Digital Services Tax to encourage renewed discussions with the U.S. In addition, the market is hopeful that the reconciliation bill passes before the holiday weekend, with a full Senate vote expected today.

Six sectors hold midday gains with financials (+0.7%) receiving support from news that all 22 banks that were subject to the Fed's stress test passed the exercise. Goldman Sachs (GS 706.74,+15.93, +2.31%) has been a standout performer since the opening bell while sector giant JPMorgan Chase (JPM 291.55, +4.44, +1.55%) is not far behind, helping the sector extend its Q2 gain to 5.0% versus a 10.4% quarter-to-date advance in the S&P 500.

Top-weighted technology (+0.6%) struggled to keep pace with the broader market in early trade, but the sector has continued showing resilience to profit taking efforts. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 20.76, +2.35, +12.76%) and Juniper Networks (JNPR 39.90, +3.08, +8.35%) are among the leaders after reaching a settlement with the Department of Justice, which will clear the way to a long-planned acquisition of Juniper by HP Enterprise. Sector heavyweight Oracle (ORCL 219.24, +9.00, +4.28%) is rising to a fresh record in reaction to positive comments from its CEO while Palantir Technologies (PLTR 137.27, +6.53, +4.99%)is reversing some of Friday's big drop after announcing a strategic partnership with Accenture (ACN 296.84, +1.38, +0.47%) Federal.

Only three sectors remain in the red at midday with the consumer discretionary space (-0.7%) at the bottom of today's leaderboard after gaining nearly 11.5% in Q2. Top components Amazon (AMZN 219.33, -3.97, -1.78%) and Tesla (TSLA 320.21, -3.42, -1.06%) have contributed to the underperformance with the former backtracking from its best level since late February while the latter is nearing its 200-day (313.30) and 50-day (312.88) moving averages amid cautious commentary from JPMorgan about Q2 demand.

Treasuries are on their highs with the 10-yr yield slipping four basis points to 4.24% in search of its lowest settlement since the beginning of May.

The Chicago PMI (40.4; Briefing.com consensus 43.4; prior 40.5) was today's lone economic report, showing an ongoing contraction in the manufacturing sector in the Chicago region.