Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages remain sharply lower, with the S&P 500 (-1.4%), Nasdaq Composite (-2.3%), and DJIA (-0.6%) all trading in negative territory for the week. The information technology sector (-3.7%) is the worst performer by a wide margin, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index plunging 6.8% as Intel (INTC 66.02, -26.05, -28.29%) and Sandisk (SNDK 1183.19, -146.86, -11.04%) suffer steep post-earnings losses.

The consumer discretionary sector (-0.8%) is also under pressure following Amazon's (AMZN 240.75, -3.04, -1.25%) earnings report, although the stock has recovered a sizable portion of its initial post-earnings decline.

Strength remains concentrated in a handful of sectors, led by the energy sector (+1.3%) amid higher crude oil prices. The defensive health care (+1.5%), consumer staples (+1.0%), and utilities (+0.7%) sectors are also outperforming.

Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 (-1.4%) and S&P Mid Cap 400 (-1.2%) are firmly lower, with decliners outpacing advancers by roughly 3-to-2 at the NYSE and nearly 3-to-1 at the Nasdaq, reflecting selling pressure beyond the largest technology stocks.