Wall St ends firmer, growth stocks lead in thin trading

Dec 29 (Reuters) – U.S. unemployment data suggests Thursday that the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes may be starting to weaken the strength of the labor market in its fight against inflation. major Wall Street indices closed higher.

All 11 S&P 500 sector indices rose, with telecom services (.SPLRCL) and technology (.SPLRCT) being the biggest winners, up nearly 3%.

“It’s a relief,” said Keith Buchanan, a portfolio manager at Global Investments in Atlanta. “Selling pressure has been overwhelming the market lately and may be taking a break.

Shares of Apple (AAPL.O), Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Amazon.com (AMZN.O) have all fallen by more than 2.5 points over the past few sessions. %.

The US Department of Labor reported last week that the number of new Americans applying for unemployment benefits has increased. But data show that the US job market is tight, despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to curb labor demand to keep inflation in check.read more

Following the news, the 10-year government bond yield dropped 2.2 basis points to 3.864%.

Aggressive Fed rate hikes have hit stock markets this year, with the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) down 19.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq down nearly 33%. .

The technology, consumer goods and communications services sector (.SPLRCL), which holds several rate-sensitive high-growth stocks, is down 29% to 40% this year, the worst performer of the S&P 500 sector index. increase.

Energy (.SPNY) stocks are bucking the trend with a staggering 57% annual gain.

Wall Street’s major indexes fell more than 1% on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) hitting 2022 lows. This is because his rising COVID cases in China and geopolitical tensions have fueled his fears of a possible recession in 2023.

However, investors prefer stocks with high dividend yields and consistent earnings, so losses in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) have been limited, falling just 8.5% over the year.

The Dow rose 345.09 points (1.05%) to 33,220.8. The S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 66.06 points (1.75%) to 3,849.28. The Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was up 264.80 points (2.59%) to 10,478.09.

Tesla (TSLA.O) shares rose after Chief Executive Elon Musk told employees they shouldn’t be “bothered by stock market madness.”

In 2022, Tesla’s 66% decline and Amazon.com’s 50% decline played a major role in the 38% loss of the S&P 500’s consumer discretionary sector. About $1.6 trillion worth of shareholder value evaporated after investors abandoned high-earnings high-growth stocks.

US exchanges traded 8.78 billion shares, averaging 10.95 billion shares across trading days over the last 20 days.

On the NYSE, gainers outnumber losers by a ratio of 4.80 to 1. On the Nasdaq, gainers dominated with a ratio of 4.30 to 1.

The S&P 500 made one 52-week high and did not record any new lows. The Nasdaq Composite posted 75 new highs and 160 new lows.

Reported by Echo Wang, New York. Additional reporting by her Ankika Biswas and Amruta Khandekar of Bangalore. Edited by Arun Koyyur, Anil D’Silva, Richard Chang

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