NEW YORK: Both the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq eked out a record closing highs after a topsy-turvy Thursday, as investors focused on retail revenues and technological optimists who outshone hawkish inflation comments from Federal Reserve policy makers.
By contrast, Dow continues to play retarded, registering the third decline this week, Cisco Systems Inc.
weighed on the benchmark.
Inflation remains front and center for investors, and the stock market initially slipped after the President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank John Williams says inflation is becoming more broad-based and that expectations for future price increases.
Both S & P and Nasdaq have been restored by noon though, with the latter supported by Nvidia.
chip maker jumped after beating quarterly estimates and forecast a strong fourth quarter earnings.
Performance helps Philadelphia semiconductor index hit a new record, before too eased a touch.
Sector S & P consumer discretionary led gains among peers, as positive retail earnings from Macy’s and Kohl joined optimistic reports from Walmart Inc and Target Corp earlier this week.
Macy’s Inc.
jumped after it raised its annual earnings guidance and flagged plans to spin-off potential of e-commerce division of his.
Kohl peek Corp.
rose after it raised its outlook.
Retail index S & P 500 broke the record intraday sessions this week, as investors eyed earnings as a signal of strong consumer demand that has endured through the rise in inflation, and that retailers are set for a strong holiday season.
“Consumers are more robust than expected ;.
That’s good news for the country as a whole A stronger consumer is a reflection of the strong economic bounce,” said Mike Zigmont, head of research and trading at Harvest Volatility Management in New York.
However, concerns over further increases in price pressures, along with uncertainty over the Fed’s plan for tightening has kept Wall Street muted this week.
“We definitely hit overbought territory and settle in will be healthy for us to take the next leg,” said Eric Metz, chief investment officer at Chicago-based SpiderRock Advisors.
“Beyond the policy or a substantial income Fed disappointment, I think there are some stable enough under our footing, but the market can be fickle and so live wisely is the name of the game now.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59.71 points, or 0.17%, to 35,871.34, the S & P 500 rose 15.9 points, or 0.34%, to 4,704.57 and the Nasdaq Composite added 72.14 points, or 0.45 %, to 15,993.71.
Dow lagged peers steep losses in the network equipment maker Cisco, which tumbled after the current-quarter revenue estimate below expectations due to lack of supply chain and delays.
Visa Inc.
fell for a second day after news that Amazon.com Inc.
may pare back in relation to the payment company.