By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
(Reuters) – The Nasdaq jumped to an all-time high on Monday, supported by tech-related stocks amid fears over a spike in COVID-19 cases across Asia, while investors awaited data on the U.S. labor market in the week.
Stay-at-home winners including Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Nvidia Corp were among the biggest boosts to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
In contrast, reopening sectors dropped sharply – financials, energy and airlines fell between 1.2% and 3.5%. All major S&P sectors fell, except technology and utilities which gained 1.1% and 0.8%.
The S&P 500 on Friday logged its best weekly performance in 20 following a bipartisan agreement on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending deal and waning concerns about a sooner -than-expected policy tightening from the Federal Reserve.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit a series of record highs last week. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq’s 5% gain is outpacing its peers in June as investors pile back into tech-oriented growth stocks on waning worries about runaway inflation.
“There’s more Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) than the fear of losing money here right now and tech stocks have a lot of FOMO,”said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC.
With the S&P 500 up almost 14% as the first half of 2021 draws to a close, activity in some areas of the market indicates concern over potential volatility, with some investors suggesting the market may be overdue for a significant pullback. At 11:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 193.85 points, or 0.56%, at 34,239.99, weighed down by Boeing Co’s 3% fall after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration told the planemaker that its planned 777X is not yet ready for a significant certification step.
The S&P 500 was down 1.48 points, or 0.03%, at 4,279.22 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 98.56 points, or 0.69%, at 14,458.95.
On the economic front, attention will be on consumer confidence data, a private jobs report and a crucial monthly employment report. Quarterly results from Micron Technology and Walgreens are also slated for this week.
“The Fed is looking at the nonfarm payrolls. If we end up with a number that is close to Wall Street estimates of 700,000, or more, then that could end up increasing the hawkish Fed rhetoric,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.8-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.1-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 183 new highs and 22 new lows.
(Reporting by Medha Singh and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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