U. S. stocks rose modestly on Wednesday, boosted by technology shares and an Amazon-led jump in retailers, helping pull the S&P 500 from the brink of bear market territory following punishing few sessions.
(Reuters) – U. S. stocks rose modestly on Wednesday, boosted by technology shares and an Amazon-led jump in retailers, helping pull the S&P 500 from the brink of bear market territory following punishing few sessions.
The technology sector. SPLRCT, whose 9.2 percent slump in the past four sessions was the steepest among the 11 major S&P sectors, rose 1.15 percent.
Retailers gained, with the S&P 500 retailers sub-index. SPXRT jumping 1.75 percent, after a Mastercard report showed U. S. holiday sales were the strongest in six years. Amazon.com Inc ( AMZN. O) rose 2.22 percent after reporting a “record-breaking” season.
Other members of the FANG group, Facebook Inc ( FB. O), Netflix Inc ( NFLX. O) and Alphabet Inc ( GOOGL. O), which has also been under pressure recently, rose between 0.4 percent and 2.8 percent.
“We expect a relief rally that may continue for a few days as end of the quarter window dressing ups the chances of bargain hunting,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
