NEW YORK, March 10 ― Tesla and other tech shares roared back to life on Wall Street yesterday, powering higher after a period of weakness as Congress neared final passage of a US$1.9 trillion (RM7.8 trillion) economic aid package.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index ended 3.7 per cent higher at 13,073.82. The index has underperformed the Dow in recent sessions as investors have steered funds into industrial, banking and other sectors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1 per cent to 31,832.74, while the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 1.4 per cent to 3,985.44.
Tech giants, which have outperformed the broader market through most of the pandemic, have been under pressure in recent weeks.
But yesterday's session showed investors remain keen to step in when there are pullbacks. Besides Tesla, which jumped nearly 20 per cent, Apple, Facebook and Amazon all surged around four percent or more.
“The fact that we're up substantially is a good indication that maybe Nasdaq has found a bottom,” said Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities, who cited yesterday's pullback in Treasury yields as a factor supporting tech shares.
Investors have pencilled in a jump in economic growth throughout 2021, boosted in part by Biden's plan, which includes stimulus checks of up to US$1,400 to most US households and extensions of unemployment benefits, among other items.
The OECD sharply raised its 2021 global growth forecast, projecting the global economy will expand by 5.6 per cent, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from its December forecast, and saying the outlook has “improved markedly in recent months.”
Among individual companies, Boeing jumped 3.0 per cent after posting February plane orders that exceeded cancelations for the first month since November 2019.
GameStop continued its wild ride, surging 26.9 per cent as the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing looking at recent volatility in the stock in the aftermath of a buying campaign by retail investors on the social networking website Reddit. ― AFP
