Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages have ceded some of their early advances, though they still hold modest gains for the day.

The industrials sector (-0.3%) joins the energy (-0.9%) and health care (-0.5%) sectors in negative territory, while the financials sector (flat) hovers at its unchanged value.

The other eight sectors continue to perform on what has been a strong start to a week with numerous key earnings reports. Verizon (VZ 42.57, +1.73, +4.2%) has been an early beneficiary of earnings news this week, with its gains permeating through to other cellular names and helping the communication services sector (+1.9%) emerge as today's top performer.