Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.3%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.6%), and DJIA (flat) are ticking mostly higher this morning as investors continue to monitor developments on the geopolitical front.

CNBC recently reported that it is now unlikely that the U.S. and Iran will agree to a ceasefire. The market will look for further clarity from President Trump at a 1:00 p.m. ET military press conference this afternoon.

Even with the lingering uncertainty, stocks are off to a decent start as gains across some of the market's largest names outweigh mixed strength in the broader market.

The top-weighted information technology sector (+0.6%) holds a nice gain, while mega-cap leadership helps the communication services (+0.8%) and the consumer discretionary (+0.7%) sectors outperform.

Just released, the ISM Services PMI checked in at 54.0% in March (Briefing.com consensus: 54.9%), down from 56.1% in February.