S&P 500 Ekes Out Record High as Tech Continues Climb

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 closed at record high Wednesday on tech strength but gains were kept in check by an uptick in U.S. bond yields after the Federal Reserve's March meeting minutes continued to signal that easy monetary policy is here to stay.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2%, to end the day at closing record of 4,079.95, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.05%, or 16 points, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.1%.

The Federal Reserve minutes drew a muted a reaction in markets and didn't offer any new clues on monetary policy. 

Fed policymakers acknowledged progress on the economy, but continued to back the ongoing pace of monetary support, saying  substantial progress on the recovery will likely take "some time."

Tech stocks gave up some of their gains as U.S. bond yields turned positive, while worries that stocks have run up too fast and are due a correction also weighed.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) traded in the green.

Amazon late-Tuesday pledged its support for President Joe Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure plan and said it was ready to back the proposed corporate tax hike to fund the package. Biden did signal that he was willing to negotiate on a proposed increase in taxes.  

ViacomCBS (NASDAQ:VIAC) fell despite receiving an upgraded by Wolfe Research to outperform from peer perform as its recent declines has made its valuation attractive.

Sentiment on the economy was boosted following a bold call from JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) chief executive Jamie Dimon. 

“I have little doubt that with excess savings, new stimulus savings, huge deficit spending, more QE, a new potential infrastructure bill, a successful vaccine and euphoria around the end of the pandemic, the U.S. economy will likely boom,” Dimon said in an annual letter to shareholders. “This boom could easily run into 2023 because all the spending could extend well into 2023.”

Energy stocks were supported by a rebound in oil prices following data showing weekly U.S. crude inventories fell more than expected last week.

On the vaccine front, AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) suffered a setback somewhat after the UK health regulator MHRA said it would offer an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine for people aged below 30, due to very rare cases of blood clotting. 

Cruise lines were in focus, meanwhile, after Carnival (NYSE:CCL) reported a wider-than-expected fiscal first quarter loss, but signaled demand was healthy as booking volumes rose more than 90% sequentially. 

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) and Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) ended higher.

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In other news, Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) gave up its intraday gains, falling almost 3%, despite the plant-based food company announcing the opening its first manufacturing plant in China.