Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market opened to broad-based losses, sending the S&P 500 (-0.4%), Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%), and DJIA (-0.2%) lower following yesterday's modest advance. 

Nine S&P 500 sectors trade in negative territory, with the communication services sector (-1.5%) the farthest below its baseline as it faces sizable losses in Meta Platforms (META 712.90, -21.48, -2.93%) and Netflix (NFLX 1168.41, -30.51, -2.54%).

Meanwhile, the health care sector (+1.6%) expands upon yesterday's rally, while the defensive utilities sector (+0.6%) also trades higher.

The final reading of the September S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI remained unchanged at 52.0.

Just released, the September ISM Manufacturing Index checked in at 49.1% for September (Briefing.com consensus: 49.2%), up from 48.7% in August. The dividing line between expansion and contraction is 50.0%, so the September figure suggests manufacturing activity contracted at a slower pace than the prior month.