Technology stocks led the market higher on Monday as Apple (AAPL.O)
and Microsoft (MSFT.O)
boosted the sector after the iPhone maker kicked off its annual developers
conference and the Windows software maker announced an acquisition.
Apple unveiled its latest operating system iOS 12 at the conference and
even after paring some gains in the afternoon, for a 0.8 percent gain, it still
provided the biggest boost to the S&P 500 .SPX and
helped take the Nasdaq close to its intraday record reached in mid-March.
The technology sector boost added to continued investor optimism after
Friday’s better-than expected jobs data, according to Kim Forrest, senior
portfolio manager at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
“On Fridays in the summer, there’s not a lot of people behind the desk.
These are investors that may not have been around to participate at the end of
a holiday week,” said Forrest.
Forrest also cited Apple’s developer conference and Microsoft’s $7.5
billion deal to buy privately held coding website GitHub Inc, which sent its
shares up 0.6 percent to a record high.
“Microsoft started its life as a company that provided developer tools.
This is the next generation of developer tools. It’s good they were able to buy
it,” she said.
At 2:26 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
162.38 points, or 0.66 percent, to 24,797.59, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
11.14 points, or 0.41 percent, to 2,745.76 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
43.22 points, or 0.57 percent, to 7,597.55.
The S&P technology index .SPLRCT was up 0.9 percent. Seven of the 11
main S&P indexes were trading higher.
However the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index .NBI underperformed the broader
market with a 1 percent decline as shares of cancer-focused companies moved
after presentations at the ongoing American Society of Clinical Oncology’s
(ASCO) meeting.
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR.O)
slumped 43.3 percent and weighed on the Nasdaq biotech index .NBI after mixed
results from its experimental cancer drug with Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMY.N)
Opdivo disappointed investors.
Merck (MRK.N),
however, gained about 2.3 percent after latest data showed its cancer drug
Keytruda improved survival as a stand-alone treatment for a type of lung
cancer.
Boeing (BA.N)
rose 0.9 percent, the biggest boost to the Dow, after the planemaker said it
would partner with French aerospace firm Safran SA (SAF.PA)
to make and service aircraft parts.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.58-to-1
ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.28-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 44 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows; the Nasdaq
Composite recorded 204 new highs and 37 new lows.
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