Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.2%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%), and DJIA (-0.5%) sit mixed, though at their best levels of the session as mega-cap stocks provide the market a necessary boost despite relatively weak breadth. 

The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF (+0.9%) has advanced steadily throughout the morning, helping the information technology (+0.8%), consumer discretionary (+0.8%), and communication services (+0.6%) sectors plot session highs.  Meta Platforms (META 661.23, +13.60, +2.10%) expands upon yesterday's strength, while NVIDIA (NVDA 187.19, +2.35, +1.27%) trades higher despite some weakness in semiconductor names. 

Notably, the top-weighted technology sector trades higher despite a sharp selloff in Intel (INTC 45.83, -8.49, -15.63%) after the company issued disappointing Q1 guidance. 

Despite the solid leadership in big tech names, broader market weakness keeps five S&P 500 sectors lower. The S&P 500 Equal Weighted Index (-0.5%) trails the market-weighted S&P 500 as a result. 

Five S&P 500 sectors trade lower, though the losses are modest with the exception of the financials sector (-1.2%). Capital One (COF 219.68, -15.39, -6.55%) is another significant laggard after missing earnings estimates of its own. 

Outside of the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 (-1.0%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (-0.8%) face some selling pressure, with today's weakness breaking from the early 2026 trend that has seen the smaller-cap indices considerably outperform the major averages.