Wall St bounces back for technical support, but is heading for weekly losses

August 20 (Reuters) – Major Wall Street indices rose on Friday, driven by technology stocks in broad concentration, although concerns about slowing economic recovery and possible stimulus reduction saw as the indices were in the course of weekly losses.

Facebook Inc (FB.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O), owner of Google Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) which led Wall Street’s record high since last year’s pandemic lows, rose between 0.7% and 3.5%.

Global stocks fell back this week, with US stocks falling from record highs as a rapid rise in global coronavirus cases added to concerns about low Chinese economic data and the outlook for ‘American stimulus.

The Federal Reserve’s annual research conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, next week will be watched closely after minutes of the central bank’s last political meeting, which showed officials expect to greatly reduce measures of unprecedented stimulus. Read more

Technology (.SPLRCT), utilities (.SPLRCU) and materials (.SPLRCM) made gains on Friday, with trading in the 11 major S&P sectors.

The S&P healthcare sector (.SPXHC) has gained almost 1.9% so far this week, most of the major sectors.

Growth stocks were also bolstered by U.S. Treasury yields, which are expected to end the week on the downside for fear that the spread of COVID-19 variants would slow economic normalization.

“This is a better environment for technology stocks. The technology environment on the macro landscape is probably cheering up to some extent, as the economy is starting to show signs of growth, but at a slower pace.” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut.

“This market is still trying to feel the way. There is no directional leadership coming out of any particular group, other than perhaps the healthcare space.”

Technology stocks are particularly sensitive to rising yields, as their value depends largely on future profits, which are further discounted when bond yields increase.

At 12:43 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 266.40 points, or 0.76%, at 35,160.52, the S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 34.59 points, or 0, 79%, to 4,440.39, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) rose 145.12 points, or 1.00%, to 14,686.91.

For the week, the reference Dow (.DJI) and S&P 500 (.SPX) have fallen about 1% and 0.6% respectively, while the Nasdaq (.IXIC) technology has fallen 0, 9%, most since then. July 30.

Deere & Co (DE.N) fell 2.5%, even after surpassing Wall Street forecasts for third-quarter revenue and raising its year-over-year earnings forecast on strong demand for agricultural and construction equipment. Read more

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.N) rose 1.1% after the U.S. FDA approved the blockbuster drug, Opdivo, for patients with high-risk urothelial carcinoma.

Advanced emissions outperformed declines by a ratio of 2.63 to 1 on the NYSE and by a ratio of 2.36 to 1 on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 42 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq posted 46 new highs and 162 new lows.

Reports of Devik Jain and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Edited by Subhranshu Sahu, Maju Samuel and Aditya Soni

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