Stocks Rebound on Tech Companies

Stocks Rebound on Tech Companies

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are changing course Tuesday morning as investors put an end to a two-day drop for technology companies. Banks and retailers like Amazon are also recovering to trade higher while traditionally safe, high-yielding investments like household goods makers and phone companies slip.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index picked up 6 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,435 as of 10:13 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 53 points, or 0.3 percent, to 21,288. The Nasdaq composite, which has a large concentration of technology companies, rose 34 points, or 0.6 percent, to 6,210. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 3 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,421.

The Dow and Russell 2000 are trading just above the record highs they set Friday.

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Technology companies recovered some of their losses from a steep slide over the last two days. Facebook rose $1.83, or 1.2 percent, to $150.27 while Alphabet, Google's parent company, gained $11.92, or 1.2 percent, to $973.73. Elsewhere hard drive maker Western Digital added $2.73, or 3.2 percent, to $89.37 while chipmaker Micron Technology climbed 59 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $31.79 and Nvidia advanced 93 cents to $150.80.

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Tech companies have done far better than the market over the last year but suffered a big decline Friday. They took another loss Monday, but started to improve late in the day.

HARD SCIENCE: Information technology company Science Applications International Corp. slumped after its sales fell short of Wall Street's projections. The company said tight budgets for customers are hurting its sales, and greater costs affected its profits. The stock lost $7.85, or 9.6 percent, to $73.59.

CAKE POP: Restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory said sales at older restaurants have fallen in the current quarter. Those sales, an important measurement of retailer performance, are down about 1 percent while FactSet says analysts expected growth of 1.7 percent. Cheesecake Factory said its weekly sales have been uneven because consumers are feeling uncertainty. The company said the shaky sales will hurt its earnings, and the stock lost $5.70, or 9.8 percent, to $52.63.

SEARED: Struggling retailer Sears skidded further. Sears Holdings, which runs the Sears and Kmart chains, said it will cut around 400 full-time jobs as part of its plans to turn its business around. Meanwhile Sears Canada, spun off by Sears in 2012, said it hasn't been able to secure as much funding as it hoped. That raises doubts about its ability to stay in business.

Sears Holdings lost 27 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $6.76.

FED WATCH: The Federal Reserve starts its June meeting on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, investors expect the central bank to raise interest rates for the third time since December. Very low unemployment, gains in factory output and other economic data pointing to a recovery in the U.S. economy have led investors to believe that the Fed will lift rates.

OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 43 cents to $45.65 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, dropped 31 cents to $47.98 per barrel in London.

BONDS: Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note remained at 2.22 percent, the same as late Monday.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 110.07 yen from 109.79 yen. The euro inched up to $1.1212 from $1.1208.

OVERSEAS: Germany's DAX gained 0.7 percent and the CAC 40 in France advanced 0.6 percent. In Britain the FTSE 100 index was little changed. Asian markets finished mostly higher. In South Korea the Kospi rose 0.7 percent and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 0.6 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 dipped 0.1 percent.

(KA)

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