Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.3%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.2%), and DJIA (+0.5%) sit modestly higher shortly before midday amid a backdrop of relatively broad strength. 

Eight S&P 500 sectors trade higher, led by the health care (+1.7%) and materials (+1.4%) sectors. The health care sector sees strong gains across pharmaceutical and biotech names such as Moderna (MRNA 35.68, +3.51, +10.91%), while the materials sector is supported by a rally in metals prices. 

The top-weighted information technology sector (+0.2%) also holds a modest gain as chipmakers, and in particular memory chip makers such as Sandisk (SNDK 333.66, +59.58, +21.74%), continue to surge this year. The PHLX Semiconductor Index is up 2.3% today. 

NVIDIA (NVDA 188.28, +0.16, +0.09%), however, continues to struggle with maintaining gains throughout the course of a session. The stock traded higher by over 1.0% after announcing its next-generation chip is in full production, along with an expansion into the autonomous driving sector. 

The latter point in particular has weighed heavily on Tesla (TSLA 432.61, -19.06, -4.22%), though another strong gain in Amazon (AMZN 237.78, +4.72, +2.03%) helps mask the loss in the consumer discretionary sector (+0.1%). The communication services sector (-1.1%) is a laggard as its mega-cap components trade lower, trailing just the energy sector (-1.4%) today. 

Mixed performances across mega-caps have the Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF down 0.1%, which limits index-level gains despite broad strength.

Outside of the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 (+0.1%) and S&P MidCap 400 (+0.3%) trade in line with the broader market.