US stocks end higher as tech shares rally
New York: US stocks rose, boosted by a strong rally in tech-related shares.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 83.48 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 28,331.92. The S&P 500 increased 35.11 points, or 1.02 per cent, to 3,478.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 198.59 points, or 1.73 per cent, to 11,665.06, Xinhua news agency reported.
Shares of major US tech giants, or the so-called FAANG group of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet, all closed noticeably higher.
Salesforce shares surged 26 per cent after the US software company reported better-than-anticipated second-quarter earnings and issued an upbeat outlook for the year.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors advanced, with communication services and technology up 3.71 per cent and 2.05 per cent, respectively, leading the gainers. Energy dipped 2.23 per cent, the worst-performing group.
Meanwhile, US-listed Chinese companies traded mostly higher, with eight of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P US Listed China 50 index ending the day on an upbeat note.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to deliver a speech on Thursday at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on the US central bank’s monetary policy framework review.
Investors will focus on the Fed’s comments on the economy, inflation and look for clues on further stimulus, experts noted.
“While we expect the Fed to shy away from more radical easing measures, such as explicit controls on government bond yields, we believe Powell will likely outline other dovish measures,” UBS Global Wealth Management’s Chief Investment Officer Mark Haefele said in a note on Wednesday.
“These could include a move toward average inflation targeting, giving the central bank more leeway to allow inflation to overshoot the 2 per cent target while keeping rates pegged close to zero,” Haefele added.
On the data front, US durable goods orders jumped by 11.2 per cent in July after an increase of 7.7 per cent in the prior month, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday. Economists had expected durable goods orders to rise by 4.3 per cent.