US: S&P, Nasdaq end choppy session at records

[NEW YORK] The S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished a choppy session at fresh records Thursday (Nov 18), lifted by strength in large technology equities and mostly good earnings.

Apple and Amazon were among the companies that enjoyed outsized gains, along with chip company Nvidia, which shot up more than eight per cent following strong earnings.

But analysts pointed to lingering worries about inflation and supply chain problems as drags on the trading session, which saw all three major indices drift at times into the red.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the only one to end lower, dropping 0.2 per cent to 35,870.95.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to finish at 4,704.54, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.5 per cent to 15,993.71 - both overtaking previous records set Nov 8.

Among other companies reporting results, Macy's shares won 21.1 per cent and Kohl's jumped 10.7 per cent, while Dow-member Cisco Systems slumped 5.5 per cent.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, was the exception among large tech companies that mostly rallied, falling 0.6 per cent on news that a group of US states are probing allegations that Instagram supplied the photo-sharing platform to children despite knowing of potential harm.

The probe is the latest ripple effect from congressional testimony of former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, who also has leaked documents about alleged malfeasance by the social media giant to lawmakers and reporters.

AFP