Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.5%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.8%), and DJIA (+0.2%) trade higher as semiconductor stocks take back a nice chunk of Friday's weakness against a backdrop of mixed strength in the broader market.

The top-weighted information technology sector (+2.0%) leads the advance, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index (+4.0%) reclaiming a little under half of Friday's loss. Intel (INTC 107.13, +7.96, +8.03%) is an early outperformer after The Information reported that Alphabet (GOOG 360.18, -5.58, -1.53%) and NVIDIA (NVDA 206.32, +1.22, +0.60%) are considering using the company as a backup chip manufacturer, while Micron (MU 926.86, +62.85, +7.27%) holds a similar gain.

The energy sector (+1.6%) is another top mover this morning despite oil prices slipping from their overnight highs as Israel and Iran halt strikes against each other. WTI crude oil is currently up $0.60 (+0.7%) to $91.14 per barrel after nearing $96.00 per barrel overnight.

Gains are more modest elsewhere, though solid mega-cap leadership from Tesla (TSLA 401.32, +10.32, +2.64%) is pushing the consumer discretionary sector (+0.9%) to its best levels.

Meanwhile, five S&P 500 sectors trade lower. The losses are generally modest in nature, though the communication services sector (-1.0%) continues to struggle as Alphabet (GOOG 360.18, -5.58, -1.53%) and Meta Platforms (META 588.62, -4.38, -0.74%) extend their recent bout of underperformance, with Meta moving further below its 50-day moving average.