Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.1%) joins the DJIA (+0.5%) in positive territory, while the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) lags.

The move comes after the information technology sector (-0.3%) halved its opening loss.

Intel (INTC 26.46, +2.80, +11.83%) trades sharply higher after headlines that Softbank made a $2 billion investment in its common stock, widening the stock's month-to-date gains to an impressive 32.8%. 

Palo Alto Networks (PANW 184.51, +8.34, +4.73%) also captures a nice gain after beating EPS estimates by $0.06 and issuing upside guidance. 

NVIDIA (NVDA 180.38, -1.64, -0.90%) and Microsoft (MSFT 512.90, -4.20, -0.81%) trade lower, but a gain in Apple (AAPL 232.41, +1.52, +0.66%) limits early losses in the sector. 

Meanwhile, the PHLX Semiconductor Index is up a modest 0.1%.