Wall Street ends higher, helped by technology rally

(Reuters) – Wall Street finished higher on Monday after a hectic session, with gains in Apple and other technology stocks offsetting fears of a escalating trade war between Washington and its trading partners.

Microsoft Inc. ( MSFT.O ), Facebook Inc. ( FB.O ) and Apple Inc. ( AAPL.O ) increased by 1% or plus, pushing the S & P 500 index of information technology .SPLRCT up 0.99%, bringing gains to 11% since the beginning of the year, investors betting on strong earnings from Silicon Valley as the quarterly season approaches.

"It does not seem like technology will slow down this year," said Jake Dollarhide, managing director of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. "Technology is here to say."

Traders were also considering the deadline of July 6 for US duties on Chinese products of $ 34 billion to launch, which poses the danger of a strong reaction from Beijing.

The European Union warned the United States that the imposition of import duties on cars and auto parts would likely result in counterparties of $ 294 billion. US exports, while Canada has promised to take punitive measures. .

"These" tit-a-tat "commercial tariffs will eventually drive up prices for consumers and will likely dampen demand for products," said Jack Ablin, Cresset Wealth Advisors Investment Director in Chicago.

Ablin said he was expecting solid profits from US companies for the quarter ended in June, but that profits for the remainder of the year 2018 were likely to be affected by a growing trade war.

Only three of the 11 major sectors of the S & P 500 index ended lower on Monday, with a 1.55% drop in energy following a 2% decline in Brent lCOc1 from Brent.

Wall Street suffered significant losses early in the session, but changed course later.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.15% to finish at 24,307.18 points, while the .SPX S & P 500 gained 0.31 percent to 2726.71. Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.76% to 7,567.69.

On Tuesday, the US stock exchanges will close at 1 pm EDT (17:00 GMT) before the holidays of 4 July, date on which the exchanges will also be closed. While some investors were already taking leave on Monday, trading volume in the United States was 6.2 billion shares, compared with 7.3 billion on average over the last 20 trading days.

Commerce data on the market also showed that construction spending in the United States rose 0.4% in May, more than expected, due to investments in private and public construction projects. .

The Institute for Supply Management said that the national plant activity had exploded last month, likely because steel and aluminum prices disrupted chains of supply, which has delayed the delivery of the goods.

Tesla Inc. ( TSLA.O ) lost 2.3% after the electric car manufacturer reported reaching its goal of producing 5,000 model 3 sedans a week. Many investors were skeptical about the financial impact of ramping up the production and quality of cars being built. In addition, just before the closing of the market, Tesla said his chief engineer was leaving the company.

Casino company shares fell as gaming revenue in China's Macau territory rose less than expected in June.

Wynn Resorts ( WYNN.O ) sank 7.89%, while Las Vegas Sands ( LVS.N ) fell 6.67% after Bank of America has degraded the stock. MGM Resorts ( MGM.N ) dropped 3%.

Dell Technologies went one step further to become a public company with an agreement to purchase the tracking stock of its majority-owned VMware unit. The VMware tracking stock ( DVMT.N ) jumped 9%, while VMware ( VMW.N ) gained 10.24%.

Increasing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE with a ratio of 1.09 to 1; on the Nasdaq, a ratio of 1.55 to 1 favored advances.

The S & P 500 posted two new 52-week highs and 11 new lows; the Nasdaq composite recorded 52 new highs and 70 new lows.