Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market opened higher this morning after another round of mega-cap earnings reports, and while there are some notable moves, the advance has not been as strong as previous mega-cap rallies this week. 

The Nasdaq Composite (+0.4%) leads the way, while the S&P 500 now sits flat, and the DJIA (-0.2%) lags. 

Amazon (AMZN 246.20, +23.34, +10.47%) is the focal point of today's action, rising to record highs after an impressive beat and raise performance that saw a 20% surge in AWS sales. The consumer discretionary sector (+4.3%) unsurprisingly jumped out to a substantial gain, with Tesla (TSLA 453.38, +13.28, +3.02%) providing additional mega-cap strength. 

Outside of today's golden sector, however, the market's largest names are putting up mixed performances. The energy sector (+0.3%) is the only other S&P 500 sector that currently holds a gain.

The information technology sector (-0.3%) retreated from an earlier gain, facing continued pressure in Microsoft (MSFT 517.70, -8.06, -1.53%) after its earnings report, with Apple (AAPL 272.90, +1.50, +0.55%) holding just a modest gain after topping earnings estimates yesterday afternoon. 

NVIDIA (NVDA 203.13, +0.24, +0.12%), which previously held a gain wider than 1.0% following reports that Samsung will purchase and deploy 50,000 NVIDIA GPUs, has retreated to its flat line. 

Meanwhile, Alphabet (GOOG 280.80, -1.10, -0.39%) and Meta Platforms (META 653.10, -13.37, -2.01%) are both under pressure, driving the communication services sector (-0.3%) lower. 

Elsewhere in the sector, Netflix (NFLX 1126.97, +37.97, +3.49%) trades higher after announcing a 10-for-1 stock split. 

Outside of the mega-cap realm, earnings reports have produced some solid winners, including Coinbase Global (COIN 354.35, +25.84, +7.87%), First Solar (FSLR 265.33, +31.75, +13.59%), and Western Digital (WDC 142.78, +4.66, +3.37%), which help keep losses in the nine retreating S&P 500 sectors relatively modest. 

While the broad slate of earnings reports gives investors plenty to assess, corporate headlines have been relatively quiet throughout the session. 

Dampered expectations for a December rate cut add a macro component to today's broader market weakness. 

Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid (voting FOMC member) cited above-target inflation and generally strong market conditions for dissenting against this week's 25-basis point cut. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, who will be a voting member in 2026, echoed similar sentiments towards the October decision and added, "I find it difficult to cut rates again in December unless there is clear evidence that inflation will fall faster than expected or that the labor market will cool more rapidly."

The CME FedWatch tool now assigns a 63.0% probability of at least a 25-basis point rate cut in December, down from 72.8% yesterday and 95.8% one week ago.

Reviewing today's data:

• October Chicago PMI 43.8 (Briefing.com consensus 42.0); Prior 40.6