Wall Street ends higher; Nvidia surge offsets Nordstrom, Gap slide

NEW YORK (REUTERS) – Wall Street ended higher on Wednesday (Nov 24), lifted by gains in Nvidia and other tech stocks, while Gap and Nordstrom shares tumbled following weak quarterly reports.

Nordstrom tumbled 29 per cent and Gap slid 24 per cent, after the two retailers reported weak quarterly results and warned of supply chain problems ahead of the crucial United States holiday shopping season.

Nvidia rallied 2.9 per cent as it bounced back from a sell-off in Big Tech stocks early this week. The graphics chipmaker is now up about 150 per cent this year.

The S&P 500 spent much of the session near flat before climbing just before the close.

The S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector index rose 0.2 per cent after data showed US consumer spending increased more than expected last month

The so-called core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, also accelerated last month.

Various Federal Reserve policymakers said they would be open to speeding up elimination of their bond-buying programme and move more quickly to raise interest rates if high inflation held, minutes of the US central bank’s last policy meeting showed.

Other data showed weekly jobless claims fell and third-quarter gross domestic product was revised higher, while a University of Michigan survey showed consumer sentiment improved this month.

Coronavirus infections broke records in parts of Europe on Wednesday, with investors worried the continent was again the epicentre of a pandemic that has prompted new curbs on movement.

So far this week, the Nasdaq is down about 1.3 per cent, with investors worried that higher interest rates could hurt the valuations of tech and other growth stocks.

“Equities are under pressure from a combination of rising interest rates, more cautionary news on the earnings front, and also from Covid-19 developments in Europe,” said Mr Greg Bassuk, chief executive at AXS Investments in Port Chester, New York.

The US stock market will be closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, and it will have a shortened session on Friday.

Real estate led among 11 S&P 500 sector indexes with a gain of 1.3 per cent for most of the session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.03 per cent to end at 35,804.38 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.23 per cent to 4,701.46.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.44 per cent to 15,845.23.

Volume on US exchanges was 8.9 billion shares, light compared with the 11 billion average over the past 20 trading days.

Tesla rose as much as 0.6 per cent. In his latest of several recent share sales, chief executive Elon Musk sold 934,091 shares of the electric vehicle maker worth US$1.05 billion (S$1.43 billion) after exercising options to buy 2.15 million shares.

PC maker HP jumped 10 per cent, while Dell Technologies saw a 4.8 per cent increase after they logged a more than four-fold rise in quarterly profits amid increasing demand for personal computers.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.15-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.47-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and four new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 55 new highs and 234 new lows.