The Nasdaq scaled a new closing high on Tuesday, but the broad market barely missed eking out a seventh day of gains as investors rotated out of large-cap tech names into other sectors expected to benefit from a proposed $1.9-trillion US stimulus Bill.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq hit an all-time high early in the session on gains in Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Google-parent Alphabet Inc, which later turned lower amid a shift in portfolio allocations.

Also read: Markets likely to open flat, stock-specific action seen

The NYSE FANG+TM index, which includes Facebook Inc, Netflix Inc and Tesla Inc, rose to an all-time high.

With the number of US Covid-19 cases falling and expectations the stimulus package will be approved in Congress, investors are hard-pressed to find significant negatives, said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

“You’re not seeing money coming out of the market and going into cash,” James said. “You’re seeing money coming out of one sector and being rotated into another sector to maintain an overall long bias.”

Largely upbeat corporate earnings, along with monetary and fiscal support, powered the major US stock indexes to successive record highs the past six days. Both the Dow and S&P narrowly missed closing higher, along with the Nasdaq.

“The backdrop is largely positive for stocks and I’m not sure there could be a better backdrop for risk assets in the near to intermediate term,” said William Herrmann, co-founder and managing partner at Wilshire Phoenix in New York City.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.93 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 31,375.83 and the S&P 500 lost 4.36 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 3,911.23. The Nasdaq Composite added 20.06 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 14,007.70.

The energy sector, among those that led the recent rally, slipped 1.5 per cent, while communication services rose 0.2 per cent.

Data last week showing slower-than-expected jobs growth in the labour market underscored the need for more government aid to blunt the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, President Joe Biden has said.

Democrats in the US Senate continue to try to find a way to include a minimum wage increase in a comprehensive Covid-19 relief Bill they aim to advance in the coming weeks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday.

Toymaker Mattel Inc rose 2.1 per cent, while telephone equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc slipped 0.9 per cent ahead of reporting earnings after market close.

Analysts forecast a fourth-quarter S&P earnings gain of about 2.5 per cent, a stark reversal from the 10.3 per cent annual decline seen at the beginning of the year, per Refinitiv.

Gucci lipstick maker Coty Inc tumbled 15 per cent as weak demand for make-up products wiped millions off its quarterly revenue.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc fell 6.1 per cent after the videogame publisher posted a drop in quarterly adjusted sales and shied away from announcing any new big releases.

Bitcoin fast approached the $50,000-mark as the afterglow of Elon Musk-led Tesla’s investment in the cryptocurrency had investors reckoning it may become a mainstream asset class for both corporations and money managers.

Cryptocurrency miner Riot Blockchain and Marathon Patent Group extended sharp gains for the second day, rising 22 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, but Tesla’s shares dropped 1.6 per cent.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.54-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.45-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 40 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 428 new highs and six new lows.

comment COMMENT NOW