Stock Market Update
20-Oct-26 14:30 ET
Health care leads
Dow +501.43
at 52467.67,
Nasdaq +38.01
at 26489.34,
S&P +27.27
at 7718.07
[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.4%) trades a bit below its morning high but still above its 50-day moving average (7704) thanks to gains in most sectors with four groups up at least 1.0% and the health care sector (+2.4%) in the lead.
Most sectors have spent today's session in positive territory with the market's morning push to a session high receiving assistance from some bargain hunting in technology (-0.1%), but sentiment surrounding tech stocks in general, and AI-related names specifically, has remained skittish, so the earlier rebound in that group ran into some immediate profit taking. That said, software stocks have had a good showing, keeping the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV 107.24, +1.24, +1.17%) at its best level of the session.
Meanwhile in the health care sector, biotechnology names have offered significant support with Moderna (MRNA 239.18, +12.29, +5.42%) cruising to a fresh 2026 high while the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI 153.59, +5.73, +3.88%) has extended yesterday's bounce off its lowest close since mid-June. The ETF is now up 6.6% for the week, but still down 2.5% in October.
