Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.3%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.3%), and DJIA (flat) are mostly higher at midday.

Strength at the sector level is now mixed, with five S&P 500 sectors trading lower. However, losses remain modest for the most part, with only the consumer staples (-1.4%) and communication services (-1.3%) sectors holding losses wider than 0.3%.

Weakness in Target (TGT 118.13, -7.12, -5.68%) and discount stores weighs on the consumer staples sector, while Alphabet (GOOG 391.27, -5.78, -1.46%) and Meta Platforms (META 603.00, -6.62, -1.09%) provide weak mega-cap leadership for the communication services sector.

Additionally, The Trade Desk (TTD 21.26, -1.82, -7.86%) is the worst-performing S&P 500 name after being downgraded to Reduce from Hold at HSBC, with a target price of $20.