Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (-0.4%), Nasdaq Composite (-0.5%), and DJIA (-0.2%) are under modest but broad pressure this morning, as growth-oriented stocks give back some of yesterday's gains while a surge in oil prices weighs on sentiment.

Nine S&P 500 sectors trade lower, with the top-weighted information technology sector (-0.5%) among the laggards. Action is mixed in the sector, though its largest component, NVIDIA (NVDA 219.19, -4.28, -1.92%), moves lower despite an impressive beat-and-raise earnings report.

There is some buying interest across the defensive utilities (+0.7%) and health care (+0.2%) sectors, but the consumer staples sector (-2.0%) holds the widest loss as Walmart (WMT 121.34, -9.52, -7.27%) moves sharply lower after the company beat revenue expectations, though EPS was just in-line.

On the geopolitical front, oil moved sharply higher this morning after Reuters reported that Iran's Supreme Leader said that Iran's enriched uranium needs to remain in the country, though the report has been refuted by other reporters. Still, crude oil is up $3.36 (+3.4%) to $101.62 per barrel.