Wall Street’s main indexes edged lower on Monday as investors awaited fresh economic data and comments from Federal Reserve officials throughout the week for more clarity on monetary policy.
Keeping a lid on losses were megacaps Apple and Microsoft with gains of 0.3% and 0.9%, respectively. AI chip leader Nvidia advanced 1% to hit a fresh record high.
Other chip stocks also rose, sending the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index to an all-time high. Broadcom and U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co were up around 3% each, while Micron Technology jumped 2% after price-target raises by
brokerages.
Autodesk jumped 4.5% after a report that activist investor Starboard Value had bought a roughly $500 million stake in the software maker.
Technology was the biggest gainer among the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes.
The blue-chip Dow was the only major index to post weekly declines on Friday, while the Nasdaq notched its fifth consecutive record closing high. The S&P 500 hit multiple all-time peaks in the previous week.
Some investors, however, are concerned about the sustainability of the equity rally as megacap growth and technology stocks were behind most of Wall Street’s gains this year.
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“There really isn’t an appetite to be a real seller right now because there is a perception that momentum is going to continue, and stocks are going to continue winning,” said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.
“The fact that the rally has been driven mostly by a select few stocks, that would mean that the pullback could be even deeper.”
Goldman Sachs still raised its 2024 year-end target for the S&P 500 Index to 5,600 from 5,200 earlier, representing an about 3.2% upside to current levels.
Markets are also keeping a close eye on upcoming comments from the New York Fed’s John Williams, Philadelphia Fed’s Patrick Harker and Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook.
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