Stocks rise on Wall Street as tech rebounds
Stocks rose broadly on Wall Street Tuesday as the technology sector reversed direction after a sell-off a day earlier.
The S&P 500 rose 1.5% as of 11:42 a.m. Eastern, erasing all of Monday’s loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 460 points, or 1.4%, to 34,463 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.6%.
Technology stocks did much of the heavy lifting for the broader market. Chipmaker Nvidia rose 3.5% and Microsoft rose 2%. Communications stocks also made solid gains after losing ground a day prior. Netflix rose 4.7%.
Bond yields gained ground. The 10-year Treasury rose to 1.53% from 1.49% late Monday. Rising bond yields helped lift banks, which rely on higher yields to charge more lucrative interest on loans. Bank of America rose 2.7%.
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Energy prices continued rising. U.S. oil rose 2.3% and has surpassed $79 per barrel. Natural gas futures jumped 7.1%. Rising energy prices have been steadily pushing gasoline prices higher. The average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. is $3.20, up more than $1 from a year ago, according to AAA.
Exxon Mobil rose 1%. and Hess rose 2.2%.
A wide range of companies that focus on consumer services gained ground following an encouraging update on the services sector, which is the largest part of the U.S. economy. The Institute for Supply Management reported that the sector continued growing in September and at a faster pace than economists expected. Chipotle rose 2.8% and Carmax gained 3.4%.
The market has been choppy for weeks as investors try to gauge how the economy will continue its recovery with COVID-19 and the highly contagious delta variant crimping consumer spending and job growth. Inflation concerns have been driving much of the up-and-down shifts for technology companies and the broader market.
Rising inflation has been prompting businesses from Nike to Sherwin-Williams to temper sales forecasts and warn investors that higher costs will hurt financial results. Supply chain disruptions and delays, along with rising raw materials costs, are among some of the key problems facing companies as they try to continue recovering from the pandemic’s impact.
The lingering pandemic and global supply chain problems have prompted the International Monetary Fund to trim its forecast for global growth this year.
Facebook rose 1.9%. The stock fell nearly 5% on Monday as the company suffered a worldwide outage and faced political fallout after a former employee told “60 Minutes” that the company has consistently chosen its own interests over the public good. The former employee, Frances Haugen, testified in front of Congress on Tuesday.
Stock markets in Europe rose, while markets in Asia were mostly lower.