NEW YORK, March 12 — US stocks jumped yesterday as the technology sector led a broad-based rebound following five straight sessions of losses, but a fall in Boeing's shares limited the Dow's advance after a deadly airline crash in Ethiopia.
Boeing Co, the world's largest planemaker and best-performing Dow component this year by a wide margin, ended down 5.3 per cent at US$400.01 (RM1,634.92), registering its biggest one-day percentage drop since October 29, after many airlines grounded the company's new 737 MAX 8 passenger jet following the second fatal crash involving the aircraft in just five months.
The stock had its highest daily trading volume since July 2013 and ended well off its session low of US$365.55, but it kept a lid on the Dow, which managed only about half the gains of the S&P 500.
All the major S&P sectors rose, led by gains in the technology sector, which was up 2.2 per cent. The industrial sector reversed early losses to end up 0.9 per cent.
“After the weakness in the markets last week, things have gotten a little bit oversold,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
“It was incredibly impressive when you look at what we're doing today, even with the move in Boeing,” he said, adding that tech's rally is “a sign of overall enthusiasm for equities and the continued bullish tone we've been in since the beginning of the year, last week notwithstanding.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 200.64 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 25,650.88, the S&P 500 gained 40.23 points, or 1.47 per cent, to 2,783.3 and the Nasdaq Composite added 149.92 points, or 2.02 per cent, to 7,558.06.
The S&P 500 last week registered its biggest decline since the end of 2018 after tepid job and other economic data, but the index is up about 11 per cent for the year so far.
Apple Inc rose 3.5 per cent after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the iPhone maker's shares to "buy." Also, Apple invited media to a March 25 event at the Steve Jobs Theater on its campus in Cupertino, California.
Sources previously told Reuters that Apple is targeting April for the launch of a streaming television service that will likely include subscription TV service.
Chipmaker Nvidia Corp jumped after entering a US$6.8 billion deal to buy Mellanox Technologies Ltd. The Israeli chip designer also rose.
In Washington, President Donald Trump told Congress to slash funding for foreign aid and the State Department and increase spending for the military and the wall he wants to build on the US-Mexico border in his 2020 budget, the opening move in his next funding fight with Congress.
Defence companies General Dynamics Corp, United Technologies Corp and Textron Inc rose on the news.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 3.69-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.31-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 57 new highs and 34 new lows.
About 7.1 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges. That compares with the 7.4 billion-share daily average for the past 20 trading days. — Reuters
