Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (-0.7%), Nasdaq Composite (-1.4%), and DJIA (-0.2%) are lower across the board as mega-cap tech stocks opened to heavy selling pressure, while the broader market garners some rotational gains.

Semiconductors are once again at the center of the losses, with the PHLX Semiconductor Index down 2.3% and the information technology sector down 1.7%. CNBC reports that with NVIDIA's (NVDA 202.76, -4.64, -2.23%) opening loss, Apple (AAPL 330.29, -2.97, -0.89%) has reclaimed its title as the world's most valuable company by market capitalization.

Weakness across other mega-cap names keeps the communication services (-2.5%) and consumer discretionary (-0.7%) sectors lower as well, with Netflix (NFLX 67.42, -6.93, -9.32%) a considerable laggard after a disappointing earnings report.

Meanwhile, the defensive consumer staples (+1.3%), utilities (+1.1%), and health care (+0.8%) sectors benefit from some rotational buying, while the energy sector (+1.6%) advances as crude oil surges past the $81 per barrel mark.

Just released, the preliminary July University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index checked in at 54.4 (Briefing.com consensus 50.7), up from the final June reading of 49.5.

Elsewhere on the data front, Industrial production increased just 0.1% month-over-month in June (Briefing.com consensus: 0.3%) following an unrevised 0.1% increase in May. The capacity utilization rate was 76.1% (Briefing.com consensus: 76.2%), unchanged from a downwardly revised 76.1% (from 76.2%) in May. Total industrial production was up 1.1% year-over-year. The capacity utilization rate is 3.3 percentage points below its long-run average.

The key takeaway from the report is that there was no increase in manufacturing output, something that hasn't happened since January.