S&P 500 rises in choppy session as Nvidia leads gains in tech shares – CNBC

The S&P 500 gained in a choppy session after strong earnings results from Nvidia, the world’s largest chipmaker by market value, and various retailers.

The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher to 4,704.54 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5% to 15,993.71. The Dow fell 60 points, or 0.1%, dragged lower by big losses in Cisco shares. The S&P 500 fell as much as 0.3% at one point before recovering.

The markets are in a normal seasonal lull coming off earnings season, according to Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Management. Refreshed Covid concerns weighed on short-term trades too, he added, particularly in travel stocks and other reopening plays.

Even with those mixed market moves, company earnings continue to show strength and eventually pushed the major averages higher. Nvidia shares surged 8.3% after the company reported beats on the top and bottom lines and issued a bullish revenue forecast for the current quarter ending in January. The chipmaker saw a 55% gain in data center sales from the same period a year ago and a 42% increase in gaming, its biggest market. The gain brought its market value to $791 billion.

Nvidia’s strong results caused investors to buy other chipmakers. Advanced Micro Devices moved more than 2.4% higher. Qualcomm ticked up by more than 1%, and Micron Technology added 2%. Separately, GlobalFoundries saw a big pop after revealing it entered a partnership with Ford to help the automaker increase its chip supply. Its shares ended the day higher by 2.5%.

Investors also moved into tech stocks broadly as U.S. Treasury yields took a dip of roughly 2 basis points. Scott Brown, technical strategist for LPL Financial, noted the S&P 500 Information Technology sector has gained 27% in the past six months, outperforming the broader S&P 500 by more than 10%.

“The theme of 2021 has been rotation, rotation, rotation,” he said. “But technology is the only sector to recently hit a 52-week relative high and we believe that sets up a favorable outlook heading into 2022.”

In other tech moves, Apple jumped 2.9% to an all-time high after Bloomberg News reported the company is refocusing its electric vehicle efforts on self-driving capabilities. Amazon gained 4% as its first cashierless coffeeshop, which it partnered on with Starbucks, opened in New York. It also got a lift from continued positive momentum in retail, particularly in digital.

Earnings reports from big retailers continued to lift stocks. Macy’s and Kohl’s kicked the day off smashing quarterly profit and revenue estimates, much like their peers who reported earlier in the week.

Macy’s shares surged more than 21%. The company reported comparable sales growth, on an owned plus licensed basis, of 35.6%, and …….

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/17/stock-market-futures-open-to-close-news.html