Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+1.1%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%), and DJIA (+1.6%) are holding on to their solid early gains this morning.

Nine S&P 500 sectors remain higher. The energy sector (+2.2%) holds one of the widest gains amid an increase in the price of oil. The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran rejected the U.S. request to stop its nuclear program, but signaled willingness to keep working toward a diplomatic solution.

The preliminary final University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment reading for February increased to 57.3 (Briefing.com consensus: 54.3) from the final reading of 56.4 for January. In the same period a year ago, the index stood at 64.7.

The key takeaway from the report is that there was a surge in sentiment among consumers with the largest stock portfolios, whereas it remained at "dismal levels" for consumers without stock holdings. [Note: interviews for this release ended this past Monday, so with steep losses in many tech stocks since then, there is a good chance of a downward revision when the final report is released on February 20, barring a sustained rebound effort.]