Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (-0.1%), Nasdaq Composite (-0.1%), and DJIA (+0.1%) now oscillate around their flatlines after a morning spent with modest losses. 

Breadth figures have improved throughout the session, with advancers now holding a razor-thin advantage over decliners after trailing for the bulk of the session.

The modest uptick in buying interest has five S&P 500 sectors in positive territory, led by the health care sector (+2.1%), which continues to trade higher following yesterday's announcement of TrumpRX, a direct-to-consumer website for drug purchases. 

Meanwhile, the communication services sector (-1.5%) lags as Meta Platforms (META 715.31, -19.07, -2.60%) and Alphabet (GOOG 241.15, -2.40, -0.99%) face the negative side of today's mixed mega-cap strength that has the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF flat for the day. 

After an early retreat, the market has proven to be generally unphased by the current government shutdown, though there are some concerns that a lengthened shutdown could have negative impacts on the economy. Additionally, the shutdown prevents the release of several important labor data points this week.

Today's September ADP Payrolls report showed that the private sector shed 32,000 jobs in September (Briefing.com consensus: 40,000), which boosted the probability of at least a 25-basis-point cut in October to 100% (from 96.2% yesterday), according to the CME FedWatch Tool.