Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.5%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%), and DJIA (+0.1%) are higher this morning, supported by positive breadth and solid leadership from the market's largest mega-cap stocks.

Five of the "Magnificent Seven" names trade higher, with Alphabet (GOOG 346.39, +9.07, +2.69%) and NVIDIA (NVDA 231.72, +4.51, +1.98%) among the standouts, helping the information technology (+1.3%) and communication services (+1.3%) sectors sit atop the sector standings. The Vanguard Mega Cap Growth ETF is up 0.6%, although the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index is flat, reflecting a more subdued showing outside the largest stocks.

Despite the solid gain in NVIDIA, semiconductor stocks are mixed overall, leaving the PHLX Semiconductor Index near its flat line.

The energy sector (+0.7%) is another outperformer as crude oil recoups some of yesterday's losses, currently up $1.38 (+1.5%) to $90.76 per barrel. The materials sector (+0.2%) also holds a modest gain.

Meanwhile, the remaining seven S&P 500 sectors trade lower, although the losses are generally modest. The real estate sector (-0.6%) is the only group down more than 0.5%.

On the data front, the Chicago PMI expanded to 58.8 in September (Briefing.com consensus 53.2), from the prior level of 47.1.