Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major indices have put up a good fight to get back to positive territory and to put some cushion between where they ended yesterday. The trick now is to maintain this positive disposition, which is no sure bet given how fickle the market has been amid the tariff war.

The mega-cap stocks will likely hold the key to staying on positive ground. Their relative strength to this point in today's session has been instrumental in the turnaround for the indices and, arguably, the turnaround in trading sentiment.

The Vanguard Mega-Cap Growth ETF (MGK), which we'll use as a proxy for the mega-cap trade, is up 1.0% (it had been up as much as 1.7%). Including today's gain, the MGK is down 3.6% for the month versus a 5.0% loss for the S&P 500. Year-to-date, though, it is down 13.3% versus a 9.4% decline for the S&P 500.