US: S&P closes little changed as chips boost Nasdaq in subdued holiday trading

[NEW YORK] The S&P 500 ended only nominally higher on Thursday (Nov 11), with chipmakers helping push the Nasdaq into green territory in a muted Veterans Day session, the day after hotter-than-expected inflation reports dampened investor sentiment and halted a streak of record closing highs.

Walt Disney, falling in the wake of a disappointing earnings report, dragged the Dow into the red.

The bond market was closed in observance of Veterans Day, and in the absence of economic data and with third-quarter earnings season winding down, there were few catalysts to move markets in either direction.

"Days like today are really hard to judge because you essentially have half the market closed," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia. "Specific company and industry events are driving today's markets."

"There will be a lot more trading tomorrow than today, so we'll have to wait and see what will happen," Tuz added.

Investors were favouring growth over value, and economically sensitive smallcaps and chips were outperforming the broader market.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index gained 1.9 per cent, bouncing back from its worst session in more than 6 weeks, driven by gains in Nvidia Corp after brokerage Susquehanna raised the chipmaker's price target.

Market participants were digesting recent inflation data, which suggested that the current wave of price spikes due to chronic worldwide supply challenges could have more staying power than many - including the US Federal Reserve - had hoped.

With consumer sentiment data expected tomorrow and a string of retailers due to report quarterly earnings over the next few weeks, focus is shifting to consumer spending as the holiday shopping season approaches.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 158.71 points or 0.4 per cent to 35,921.23, the S&P 500 gained 2.56 points or 0.1 per cent to 4,649.27 and the Nasdaq Composite added 81.58 points or 0.5 per cent to 15,704.28.

Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, 6 closed higher, with materials leading the gainers. Utilities suffered the largest percentage loss.

Shares of Walt Disney sank 7.1 per cent and were the heaviest drag on the Dow following its disappointing earnings release, in which the media company reported shortfalls in streaming subscribers and theme park revenues.

Electric automaker Rivian Automotive's shares jumped 22.1 per cent a day after closing 29.1 per cent above its offer price in its debut as a publicly traded company.

Rival Lucid Group's shares surged by 10.4 per cent.

But Tesla slipped 0.4 per cent following news that CEO Elon Musk sold about US$5 billion of the stock in the company over the last few days, following his infamous Twitter poll on whether he should shed 10 per cent of his shares in the firm he founded.

Dillard's gained 10 per cent after handily beating quarterly earnings and revenue forecasts. Fellow department stores Macy's and Nordstrom, which have yet to report quarterly results, rose between 2 per cent and 3.6 per cent.

Tapestry gained 8.4 per cent after the luxury fashion accessories firm boosted its annual sales forecast and announced a US$1 billion share buyback plan.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.37-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.40-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and 6 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 114 new highs and 125 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was 9.61 billion shares, compared with the 10.91 billion average over the last 20 trading days.

REUTERS