Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market opened to decent gains this morning, with the S&P 500 (+0.6%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%), and DJIA (+1.2%) all up nicely shortly after the open. 

The energy sector (+1.1%) has had an eventful opening, trading higher by nearly 3.5% before pulling back. CNBC reports that major U.S. oil companies are not going into Venezuela in the near term, as the oil infrastructure is damaged and the government structure is unclear. Any investment will begin with companies like SLB (SLB 43.26, +3.06, +7.61%) and Halliburton (HAL 31.78, +2.18, +7.36%). 

Other cyclical sectors, such as the consumer discretionary (+1.8%), financials (+2.2%), and industrials (+0.9%) sectors, are also outperforming. 

The information technology sector (+0.3%) now holds just a modest gain after a nice opening pop.  Broadcom (AVGO 336.75, -10.87, -3.13%) and Sandisk (SNDK 269.90, -5.34, -1.94%) are early laggards, though chipmakers are generally higher, boosting the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+1.5%) and helping to keep the sector in positive territory. 

Seven total S&P 500 sectors trade higher, with losses limited to the defensive utilities (-1.2%), health care (-0.7%), and consumer staples (-0.4%) sectors along with the real estate (-0.6%) sector. 

Just released, the December ISM Manufacturing Index contracted to 47.9% (Briefing.com consensus 48.4%), down from 48.2% in November.