Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (-0.8%), Nasdaq Composite (-1.3%), and DJIA (-0.4%) are firmly lower shortly after the open as growth names face considerable early weakness. 

The information technology (-1.2%) and consumer discretionary (-1.1%) sectors are the top laggards so far, with mega-cap names such as NVIDIA (NVDA 182.81, -3.00, -1.61%), Microsoft (MSFT 464.82, -5.86, -1.24%), Tesla (TSLA 439.37, -7.83, -1.75%), and Amazon (AMZN 238.79, -3.81, -1.57%) pressuring the major averages. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is down 1.1% today, which places it into negative territory for the year. 

The communication services sector (-0.7%) also faces pressure from the likes of Meta Platforms (META 623.83, -7.26, -1.15%) and Alphabet (GOOG 333.76, -2.67, -0.79%). 

Elsewhere, the financials sector (-0.6%) continues to be the weakest performer this week, with Citigroup (C 114.14, -2.16, -1.86%), Bank of America (BAC 52.69, -1.85, -3.39%), and Wells Fargo (WFC 89.38, -4.18, -4.47%) all moving lower after reporting earnings this morning. 

Meanwhile, the energy sector (+2.0%) outperforms as the price of oil increases $0.57 (+0.9%) to $61.50 per barrel, while the defensive consumer staples (+0.6%) and utilities (+0.4%) sectors see a continuation of yesterday's strength. 

Just released, existing home sales increased 5.1% month-over-month in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.35 million (Briefing.com consensus 4.15 million) from an upwardly revised 4.14 million (from 4.13 million) in November.