The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose on Wednesday, with the benchmark index at all-time highs, as technology stocks extended their rally from the previous session, while investors ignored the latest labor market reports.
Technology stocks in the S&P 500 rose the most, up 0.7%. Microsoft rose 2%, while Nvidia and Broadcom added 1.5% each.
On the other hand, the big banks fell after rallying over the last three sessions: Bank of America was down 2.2% and Goldman Sachs was down 0.8%.
JPMorgan Chase fell 2.5% after Wolfe Research downgraded the bank from “outperform” to “peer perform.”
The banking sector put pressure on the Dow Jones, the leading blue-chip stock, which had hit an all-time intraday high earlier in the session. It is currently about 1.3% away from the all-time high of 50,000, and the S&P 500 is about 0.6% away from its high of 7000.
At 11:50 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 85.82 points (0.17%), to 49,376.26 points; the S&P 500 gained 13.22 points (0.19%), to 6958.04 points; and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 139.73 points (0.59%), to 23,686.90 points.
Data on Wednesday showed that US job openings fell more than expected in November, after a slight increase in October. On the other hand, an ADP report showed that private payrolls rose less than expected in December.
“If you get bad economic news and you don’t think the Federal Reserve is going to cut interest rates and the market has recovered, you ask yourself, ‘Should I have followed the market or should I take profits?’” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.
“Economic news drove profit-taking to some extent.”
While the latest labor market data marks a return to regular economic data releases, interrupted by the US government shutdown, they did not change expectations for interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
The focus will be on Friday’s December nonfarm payrolls.
The markets will also be attentive to geopolitical events, after the United States announced the seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker linked to Venezuela, as part of President Donald Trump’s aggressive initiative to control oil flows in America and force the socialist government of Caracas to become his ally.
You may be interested: Wall Street opens in green with the Dow Jones consolidating its all-time highs
The White House announced Tuesday that Trump is considering options to acquire Greenland, including possible use of the U.S. military.
Among other stocks, Eli Lilly rose 4%. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the leading drugmaker was in advanced negotiations to buy Ventyx Biosciences for more than $1 billion.
The healthcare sector of the S&P 500 extended Tuesday’s gains by 1.1%.
Memory chip makers, which had risen in the previous session on the prospect that chip shortages would cause prices to rise, lowered their positions. SanDisk and Western Digital fell 1.2% and 9.7% after rising 27.5% and 10%, respectively, on Tuesday.
First Solar fell 9.7% after Jefferies downgraded the solar panel maker from “buy” to “hold.”
Declining stocks outnumbered rising stocks by a ratio of 1.43 to 1 on the NYSE and 1.03 to 1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 26 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite posted 81 new highs and 45 new lows.
With information from Reuters
Do you like photos and news? Follow us on our Instagram
