Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (-0.1%) remains just below its unchanged level as relative weakness in technology (-1.0%) and the consumer discretionary sector (-0.7%) outweigh gains in the remaining nine sectors.

Like the S&P 500, the Nasdaq (-0.4%) has been trapped below its flat line today while the Dow (+0.4%) outperforms, fighting for its best close in nearly three weeks. The price-weighted Dow has benefited from a good showing from some of its largest components, though the biggest member of the average—Goldman Sachs (GS 890.60, -4.72, -0.53%)—holds a modest loss. However, gains in Caterpillar (CAT 807.23, +6.76, +0.84%), Microsoft (MSFT 540.73, +5.66, +1.06%), Amgen (AMGN 415.53, +0.66, +0.16%), and Visa (V 391.49, +6.04, +1.57%) have helped keep the Dow in positive territory.

Today's underperformance in Goldman Sachs comes ahead of tomorrow morning's release of the firm's Q3 results. Wells Fargo (WFC 83.20, -0.34, -0.41%) is another laggard that will also report results tomorrow while Citigroup (C 131.38, +1.74, +1.34%) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 334.37, +1.38, +0.41%) are on the rise ahead of releasing results of their own.