Nasdaq hits record high as Apple and Facebook enjoy bounce
The tech-heavy Nasdaq has hit a record high today rising 0.4 per cent, as several of its largest constituents rose in value.
Apple stock jumped 1.56 per cent and Facebook rose 2.05 per cent, but a decline in names such as Alphabet and Microsoft kept major averages in check.
Large cap growth stocks, which had underperformed value stock names in recent weeks as investors looked to names likely to benefit from a reopened economy, edged up 0.21 per cent while value fell 0.80 per cent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 209.4 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 30,008.86, the S&P 500 lost 14.6 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 3,684.52 and the Nasdaq Composite added 36.96 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 12,501.19.
Weighing heavily on value names were energy stocks, as the S&P 500 energy index fell 0.21 per cent – the worst performing among the 11 major sectors as oil prices slipped. The sector has been the best performer this quarter, climbing nearly 30 per cent.
Promising vaccine updates from major drugmakers have raised investor hopes for an economic recovery next year and eased worries over a surge in U.S. infections, powering Wall Street’s main indexes to record highs recently.
Meanwhile Brexit uncertainty paradoxically helped the FTSE 100 outperform European markets, as a tumbling pound boosted the index.
The FTSE was 0.4 per cent higher shortly after midday, trading at around 6,577 points.
Sterling was down 1.2 per cent to $1.328, having touched a two-year high on Friday, as investors worried about the lack of progress in Brexit talks.
Yet the pound’s fall helped the FTSE 100 by making the overseas earnings of the index’s multinationals worth more in relative terms.
In Europe, Germany’s Dax slipped 0.3 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was down 0.7 per cent as investors were pulled in different directions by coronavirus worries and vaccine hopes. The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 was down 0.3 per cent.