Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages are mostly lower just after midday, with outsized losses across several mega-cap tech names dragging the S&P 500 (-0.3%) and Nasdaq Composite (-1.1%) lower, while relative strength in the broader market keeps the DJIA (+0.4%) modestly higher.

Alphabet (GOOG 345.77, -21.69, -5.90%) is under heavy pressure, sinking below its 50-day moving average (365.20) after a top engineering executive, John Jumper, decided to leave Google DeepMind and join Anthropic. The headline adds to lingering concerns over the company's massive AI capital expenditure plans, with the stock now down over 8% in June.

Meta Platforms (META 562.11, -15.11, -2.62%) adds to the mega-cap weakness in the communication services sector (-4.5%), which is also down nearly 9% for the month of June.

Amazon (AMZN 233.21, -11.18, -4.57%) is another mega-cap laggard ahead of its Prime Day event tomorrow, which weighs on the consumer discretionary sector (-1.8%).

While oil prices continue to move lower amid negotiation progress between the U.S. and Iran, the move has not given the same boost to oil-and rate-sensitive stocks as it did last week, as the geopolitical volatility continues to unwind.

The information technology sector has retreated to its baseline, with Microsoft (MSFT 368.75, -10.65, -2.81%) a mega-cap laggard and NVIDIA (NVDA 209.30, -1.39, -0.66%) also trading lower despite a solid day for semiconductor stocks. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is down 1.3%.

Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index is up 1.2%, with Micron (MU 1191.02, +57.03, +5.03%) a notable standout ahead of its earnings release Wednesday evening.

Similar to recent sessions, electrical product names such as Generac (GNRC 293.50, +14.35, +5.14%) trade higher in tandem with semiconductor stocks, adding to strength in the industrials sector (+1.0%), which is also supported by a solid gain from Caterpillar (CAT 1021.96, +36.14, +3.67%).

Several cyclical and defensive sectors are posting solid gains, including the health care sector (+1.2%), which benefits from strength in AbbVie (ABBV 231.50, +15.01, +6.93%) after the company agreed to acquire Apogee Therapeutics (APGE 132.65, +42.27, +46.77%) for $135.11 per share in cash.

The real estate (+1.5%), energy (+1.1%), and financials (+0.8%) sectors are among the other outperformers.

Outside the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 (+0.6%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (+0.4%) hold decent gains despite Treasury yields moving higher today, further suggesting some rotational action as mega-cap tech faces selling pressure.

There is no economic data of note today.