Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] While the stock market trades in a more subdued fashion compared to yesterday's broad-based rally, the S&P 500 (+0.1%) and Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) captured the modest gains needed to secure new record highs. Meanwhile, the DJIA (-0.4%) has not breached its baseline.

A small grouping of the market's largest names is responsible for gains in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite.

Tesla (TSLA 389.36, +20.55, +5.57%), Apple (AAPL 233.86, +3.83, +1.67%), and Microsoft (MSFT 510.30, +9.29, +1.85%) are flexing the strength that the mega-cap cohort has over the market, even on days when the broader market is in decline.

As a result, the information technology (+0.5%) and consumer discretionary (+0.4%) sectors are among the top performers today, with the utilities (+0.5%) and energy (+0.2%) sectors also advancing.

The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is up 0.5%, and the market-weighted S&P 500 (+0.1%) comfortably outperforms the S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index (-0.5%). 

While the broader market is largely on the retreat (decliners outpace advancers by a greater than 2-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a nearly 2-to-1 margin on the Nasdaq), losses are relatively modest, as only the health care sector (-0.7%) holds a loss wider than 0.5%.

Smaller-cap indices face more pressure, with the Russell 2000 down 0.8% and the S&P Mid Cap 400 down 0.7%.