Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The trading day is nearing its end. The indices themselves are not much worse for the wear relative to how far they have come this month, although the Nasdaq (-0.9%) is feeling the underperformance of the mega-cap cohort and high-beta stocks.

The Nasdaq was up 14.2% for the month coming into today, so it isn't a stretch to say that it was vulnerable to some profit-taking interest.

The S&P 500 utilities (+2.6%), consumer staples (+1.9%), industrials (+1.6%), and real estate (+1.0%) sectors have retained leadership status throughout the session.

The information technology sector (-1.5%), pressured by an ugly outing for the software stocks, has been today's downside leader. It is also the only sector down more than 0.9%.