Equity Roundup

Major indexes trading firmer, trimming session gains last few minutes while Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary sectors outperform. SPX eminis currently trades +13.5 (0.33%) at 4148.25; DJIA +196.48 (0.58%) at 34166.17; Nasdaq +80.7 (0.7%) at 12002.63.

• SPX leading/lagging sectors: Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary sectors both gained appr 1.65-1.70%, the former lead by semiconductor makers: Monolithic Power (MPWR) +13.0%, followed by ON Semiconductor Corp +4.0%, Skyworks and Applied Materials both +2.65%. Consumer Discretionary lead by automakers and parts suppliers w/ BorgWarner (+5.7%), Tesla (+4.01%), GM (+2.75%) and Ford (+2.68%).
• Laggers: Communication Services (-0.81%) underperformed for second day running, weighed by Lumen Technologies (LUMN) and Google -3.57%, the latter after AI "Bard" presentation in Paris drew negative comparisons to Microsoft's BING AI yesterday. Utilities (-0.31%) and Energy (+0.10%) followed, refiner shares underperforming (HAL -2.44%, SLB -0.9%, MPC -0.90%, VLO -0.75%).
• Dow Industrials Leaders/Laggers: Microsoft (MSFT) +5.09at 271.82, Salesforce (CRM) +5.25 at 174.88, Goldman Sachs (GS) +3.51 at 378.61. Laggers: IBM -0.73 at 135.25, Chevron (CVX) -0.51 at 169.48, and Verizon (VZ) -0.28 at 40.24.
• Equity Earnings cycle continues after the close: Mettler Toledo Int (MTD, $11.66 est), PayPal (PYPL, $1.20 est), Expedia (EXPE, $1.77 est), Mohawk Ind (MHK, $1.27 est) ,Motorola (MSI, $3.43 est)