Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (flat), Nasdaq Composite (flat), and DJIA (+0.3%) are now defending their modest early gains shortly before midday. The session has been relatively quiet in nature, as despite a sizable batch of economic data and earnings releases, the market is largely devoid of any new catalysts. 

Strength is relatively broad, with seven S&P 500 sectors trading higher. 

The consumer discretionary sector leads the advance, with Amazon (AMZN 210.38, +1.66, +0.80%) finally garnering some support after a sharp sell-off that followed the company's earnings release late last week. Financial Times reported that Amazon is one of several mega-cap companies that the Trump administration will exempt from upcoming chip tariffs. 

Elsewhere in the sector, Marriott (MAR 359.29, +28.08, +8.48%) and Hasbro (HAS 103.19, +6.43, +6.65%) trade sharply higher after earnings beats. 

Other cyclical sectors are mixed, with the financials (-0.6%) and energy (-0.3%) sectors trading lower, while the materials sector (+0.6%) holds a nice gain. 

Meanwhile, the communication services sector (-0.8%) trades lower due to weakness in Alphabet (GOOG 317.94, -6.46, -1.99%), while the consumer staples sector (-0.6%) trades lower for the second consecutive day as Coca-Cola (KO 76.34, -1.64, -2.10%) lags after its earnings release. 

Outside of the S&P 500, the Russell 2000 (+0.2%) holds a modest gain, while the S&P Mid Cap 400 sits flat.