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Stocks clung to modest gains on Wall Street, giving the market another record high and a winning week.
The listless day for stocks capped off a mostly solid week of earnings where the technology sector once again powered the market higher. The sector has been the driving force behind a rally that started in October.
Wall Street had a mixed session.Credit: AP
The S&P 500 index rose 1.77 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, to 5,088.80. That marks another record high for the benchmark index and its sixth winning week in the last seven.
The Dow Jones rose 0.2 per cent and the Nasdaq slipped 0.3 per cent. The Australian sharemarket is set to inch higher, with futures pointing to a rise of 4 points at the open.
Weakness in some technology companies weighed down the market, in a reversal from Thursday. Apple fell 1 per cent. Nvidia eked out a 0.4 per cent gain, after crossing above the $US2 trillion ($3.1 trillion) valuation mark earlier in the day. On Thursday, the chipmaker surged after reporting blockbuster demand for its semiconductors, which are used to power AI applications.
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A pullback by travel-related companies also checked gains elsewhere in the market. Booking.com tumbled 10.1 per cent, dragging other travel-related companies down. The online travel service beat Wall Street’s fourth-quarter sales and profit targets but issued a lukewarm forecast that spooked investors. Competitor Expedia Group fell 2 per cent.
“Investors are sanguine, with political uncertainty, elevated valuations, and Fed uncertainty not able to dent the momentum in the market,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide.
Earnings remained the big focus. Ticket seller and concert promoter Live Nation rose 2 per cent after beating analysts’ revenue forecasts. Sleep Number, which sells beds and bedding products, surged 33 per cent after beating beat Wall Street’s revenue forecasts.
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