US: Dow surges to record close, Nasdaq falls on Trump effect

[NEW YORK] The Dow powered to a fresh record on Thursday on continued momentum from President-elect Donald Trump's election win, but the Nasdaq tumbled on weakness in Amazon, Apple and other tech equities.

Analysts said the tech pullback was partly due to a rotation to other sectors and partly to worries the industry could suffer under Trump policy changes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.2 per cent to 18,807.88, up 170 points from the prior record.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.2 per cent at 2,167.48, while the Nasdaq dropped 0.8 per cent to 5,208.80.

"Lots of high-flying technology stocks have been getting hit with some profit taking," said Bill Lynch, director of investment at Hinsdale Associates. "There is a lot of money that has been going to sectors which would likely benefit with Donald Trump as president."

Banking shares rose, with JPMorgan Chase jumping 4.6 per cent, Bank of America 4.4 per cent and Wells Fargo 7.6 per cent. Pfizer rose 4.3 per cent and Caterpillar 2.5 per cent.

But Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, said Trump's stance during the campaign created concerns about how new policies could affect the technology sector.

"The rhetoric around the large technology companies is neutral to negative," Mr Hogan said.

"If we ever get back to that rhetoric that's more protectionist, that doesn't help people that manufacture a bunch of their products overseas, or companies that are putting smaller companies out of business."

Mr Hogan noted that many prominent Silicon Valley executives publicly backed Trump's rival Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. And Mr Trump attacked Apple directly after it refused to cooperate with the FBI seeking help in accessing a mobile phone.

Mr Trump also went after Amazon for its business practices, as well as Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos. Mr Bezos owns the Washington Post, which sharply criticised Mr Trump throughout the campaign.

Apple fell 2.8 per cent, Amazon 3.8 per cent, Google parent Alphabet 2.9 per cent, Facebook 1.9 per cent, Microsoft 2.4 per cent and Netflix 5.5 per cent.

AFP