Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages continue a steady upward tick that has the S&P 500 (+0.7%) setting fresh record highs and the Nasdaq Composite (+0.5%) within 70 points of its own all-time high mark.

Only the utilities (-0.9%) and consumer staples (-0.2%) sectors trade in negative territory.

Meanwhile, the health care sector (+1.8%) has continued its impressive run this week, leading all sectors with a current week-to-date gain of 3.1%. Today's gains have been bolstered by Thermo Fisher (TMO 473.88, +46.26, +10.8%) beating EPS expectations by $0.13 and reporting positive revenues. 

U.S. Treasuries have inched up off their lows in the wake of a strong $13 billion 20-year bond reopening. Treasuries added to their starting losses in late morning trade, but recent action has seen an uptick off lows after the U.S. Treasury reopened $13 billion in 20-year bonds.

The sale drew a high yield of 4.935%, which stopped through the when-issued yield by 1.6 basis points with an above-average bid-to-cover ratio (2.79x vs 2.57x average), while indirect takedown (67.4% vs 68.4% average) was a bit shy of average.

The 10-year note yield is currently up five basis points to 4.39%.