S&P 500 advances on higher oil inventories, Nasdaq retreats

September 2 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 rose on Thursday as higher commodity prices helped energy names regain ground, while the Nasdaq fell from a previous record, which had been pulled by major technology companies.

The energy sector (.SPNY) rose 2.5%, reversing most of the losses suffered in the first three days of the week. Thursday’s performance was fueled by crude prices surging on a steep drop in US stocks and a weaker dollar.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) rose 2.6% and 2.3% respectively. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp (COG.N) and Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY.N) were the biggest winners, up 7.3% and 5.7%.

The tech-rich Nasdaq and the S&P Technology Index (.SPLRCT) slipped into negative territory as some of the industry’s largest companies saw their recent upward momentum slow.

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Facebook Inc (FB.O) and the owner of Google Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) were all underwater. A notable exception was Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), which hit an all-time high on Thursday and was 1.1% higher by mid-afternoon.

U.S. stocks have steadily hit record highs in recent weeks as a strong corporate earnings season and hopes of continued central bank support bolstered confidence as data showed post economic growth. -pandemic of the country was starting to slow down.

Data from Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new jobless claims declined last week, although the focus was on the Department of Labor’s monthly employment report on Friday to set the stage for the Fed policy meeting later this month. Read more

The report is expected to show that job growth slowed to 750,000 in August from 943,000 the month before.

“The market may also view the Fed’s cut as a sign that the economy is doing better, which in turn will help support stocks over the long term,” said Bill Northey, senior investment manager at US Bank Wealth. Management in Minneapolis.

“We are positioning ourselves overweight sectors like technology and consumer discretionary rather than sectors more prone to cyclical changes.”

At 2:17 p.m. ET (6:17 p.m. GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 65.61 points, or 0.19%, to 35,378.14, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 3.91 points, or 0.09%, to 4,528 and the The Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) lost 11.43 points, or 0.07%, to 15,297.95.

Despite deadly flash floods in New York City, trading on Wall Street was functioning normally. Read more

Financials (.SPSY) gained 0.2%, with Wells Fargo (WFC.N) rising 2.5% after three consecutive losing sessions. The lender had been weighed down by a report that it could face further regulatory penalties due to the pace of compensation for victims of a sales practices scandal that has spanned years. [nL1N2Q22PT]

Contractual services firm Quanta Services Inc (PWR.N) jumped 11.5% to an all-time high after announcing it would buy privately-held Blattner Holding Company in a deal valued at around $ 2. $ 7 billion. Read more

The S&P 500 posted 74 new 52-week highs and a new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 140 new highs and 11 new lows.

Reporting by Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Editing by Aditya Soni and Lisa Shumaker

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