Wall Street’s main indexes were slightly higher in volatile trading on Tuesday, supported by gains in financials, while technology stocks came under pressure again, Reuters reported.
Amazon fell 0.3 percent following President Donald Trump’s latest attack on the online retail giant.
Tesla shares gained 4.5 percent after the electric automaker said it need not raise more capital this year and announced robust production numbers for its cheaper Model 3 sedans.
Amazon and Tesla were among the top drags on Monday, pushing the S&P 500 below its 200-day moving average for the first time since Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in June 2016.
“In technology sector, you have some bear forces, an election year that is going to couple into regulation that wasn’t really priced into the marketplace, especially in social media,” said Matt Lloyd, chief investment strategist at Advisors Asset Management.
“It is not that they are going to be severe underperformers but you want to be selective of where you want to be in technology.”
The technology sector has been battered in recent weeks following Facebook’s data scandal, Trump’s intervention against Amazon and concerns around autonomous cars.
At 13:17 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.48 percent at 23,758.83. The S&P 500 gained 0.27 percent to 2,588.82 and the Nasdaq Composite rose just 0.08 percent to 6,875.77. Yield on 10-year Treasury note rose after dropping to two-month lows on Monday, boosted by safety buying as stocks tumbled. [US/]
The rise in yield also helped financial stocks, with the S&P financial index up 0.44 percent.
Nervous investors are hoping an unusually strong U.S. earnings season can restore some of the optimism that characterized equity markets last year.
“In the immediate term there is pressure, but (there is)nothing in long term because the fundamentals are still in place,” said Lloyd.
Spotify Technology SA shares opened at $165.90, nearly 26 percent above the reference price of $132 a share set by the NYSE late on Monday.
Viacom Inc dropped more than 4 percent after Reuters reported CBS Corp planned to make an all-stock offer that valued the media company below its current market valuation. CBS shares were up 2.8 percent.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE for a 1.74-to-1 ratio and for 1.50-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.