Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks are in the midst of another tough session, with the S&P 500 (-0.6%), Nasdaq Composite (-0.9%), and DJIA (-1.0%) modestly improved from session lows. 

Only four S&P 500 sectors trade lower, though the losses are considerably wide and dispersed across some of the weightiest sectors. 

The financial sector (-2.2%) is the biggest laggard amid renewed pressure in the software space. Block (XYZ 62.39, +7.86, +14.41%) announced its intentions to reduce its workforce by roughly 40% to focus on smaller teams and AI automation. With fears of AI disruption back at the forefront of today's action, asset managers such as Apollo Global Management (APO 106.28, -8.12, -7.09%) lag amid concerns that they are overly exposed to traditional software companies. Payment names such as American Express (AXP 313.19, -22.13, -6.60%) also lag over fears that AI disruption will weigh on white-collar labor and reduce high-income spending.

The iShares GS Software ETF is down 1.8%, which adds to the woes of the information technology sector (-1.4%). 

NVIDIA (NVDA 181.57, -3.32, -1.80%) has failed to garner any buying support following its post-earnings slide yesterday, underscoring another weak day for both semiconductor and mega-cap names. 

In other corporate news, Netflix (NFLX 93.41, +8.82, +10.43%) is sharply higher after announcing it will not increase its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD 28.30, -0.50, -1.75%), leaving Paramount Skydance (PSKY 12.76, +1.58, +14.13%) as the acquisition winner. 

The gains help boost the communication services sector (+0.4%) trade modestly higher. Meanwhile, the defensive consumer staples (+1.2%), utilities (+1.0%), and health care (+0.9%) sectors are seeing some strong rotational interest amid the weakness in growth and cyclical stocks today. 

Outside the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 (-1.8%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (-1.2%) are underperforming, which could be somewhat attributed to hotter-than-expected January PPI (0.5%; Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) and core PPI (0.8%; Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) readings, which further weigh on the market's near-term rate cut expectations.