Rising Big Tech stocks help Wall Street claw back half its loss from last week

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange

By STAN CHOE

Associated Press

Sept. 11, 2023 Updated 2:20 PM PT

A rally for Big Tech stocks Monday helped Wall Street claw back about half its loss from last week.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 29.97 points, or 0.7%, to 4,487.46, coming off its first losing week in the last three. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 87.13 points, or 0.3%, to 34,663.72, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 156.37 points, or 1.1%, to 13,917.89.

Like last week, some big technology-oriented stocks led the way. Tesla jumped 10.1%, Amazon climbed 3.5% and Meta Platforms rose 3.2%.

Tech stocks were at the head of the line leading the market lower last week as yields climbed in the bond market. Higher yields hurt all kinds of stocks, but high-growth stocks tend to be the hardest hit. Yields rose last week after reports showed the U.S. economy remains more resilient than expected, which could be adding more fuel to pressures keeping inflation high.

This week will offer a huge data point for the Federal Reserve, which is weighing whether to keep raising rates in its effort to get inflation back down to its 2% target. On Wednesday, the U.S. government will offer the latest monthly update on prices consumers are paying across the economy, and the forecast is they were 3.6% higher in August than a year earlier.

The Fed has already raised its main interest rate to the highest level in two decades, and it has said it will make upcoming moves based on how inflation and other parts of the economy perform. Inflation has come down from last year’s peak above 9%, but economists warn the last bit of improvement to get to the Fed’s target could be the most difficult to achieve.

With Fed officials no longer giving speeches ahead of their meeting next week on interest rates, “the data will do all of the talking this week,” economists at Deutsche Bank said in a report.

Economists say a report Thursday about inflation at the wholesale level will be nearly as important as the data on inflation at the consumer level. High growth for wages in the healthcare industry could be pushing inflation up there, they say.

A separate report Thursday will also show how much U.S. households spent at retailers last month. Strong spending there recently has helped the economy to avoid a long-predicted recession. But it also could encourage companies to keep trying to raise prices, pushing upward on inflation.

Yields held relatively steady Monday, with the 10-year Treasury yield up to 4.28% from 4.26% late Friday. The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more closely with expectations for the Fed, rose to 5.00% from 4.99%.

Most traders expect the Federal Reserve to leave rates where they are at its meeting next week, according to data from CME Group. But many are bracing for another possible increase by the end of this year, while paring expectations for cuts to rates next year.

On Wall Street, Charter Communications rose 3.2% after it announced a deal with Walt Disney to restore access to ESPN and other channels to its Spectrum video customers. Disney rose 1.2%.

Apple rose 0.7% ahead of a Tuesday event where it’s expected to release its latest iPhone model. How Apple performs has great consequence for the market because it’s the most valuable stock on Wall Street. That means its movements pack more weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes than any other stock.

Qualcomm rose 3.9% after it announced a deal to supply 5G equipment for Apple in its phone launches in 2024 through 2026.

Aerospace company RTX slumped 7.9% after it said a previously announced issue with its Pratt & Whitney engines could mean a hit of $3 billion to $3.5 billion to its operating profit over the next several years before taxes. It said it will remove up to 700 engines for shop visits in the next few years.

Hostess Brands jumped 19.1% after J.M. Smucker said it will buy the maker of Twinkies and HoHos in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $5.6 billion, including $900 million of net debt.

J.M. Smucker, whose brands include Folgers and Smucker’s, slumped 7%.

Shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba that trade in the United States fell 1.5% after it said its former chief executive, Daniel Zhang, would step down as head of its cloud-computing unit.

The company has been restructuring after setbacks from regulatory crackdowns on the technology and financial sectors.

In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% after Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda reportedly hinted at possibly allowing interest rates to rise.