Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages remain little changed from previous levels at midday.

While tech names are certainly making an outsized contribution to today's index-level gains, the materials sector (+1.8%) is the best performer so far.

After a 1.6% slide yesterday, there is some broad-based buying activity across the sector, with all but two components trading higher.

Metal names such as Freeport-McMoRan (FCX 57.58, +2.01, +3.62%) and Steel Dynamics (STLD 237.70, +7.88, +3.43%) are among the outperformers, while DuPont (DD 49.48, +4.08, +8.97%) holds an even wider gain after beating EPS expectations and reporting in-line revenues.