S&P 500 closes at record as tech heavyweights flex (besides Apple)
The Magnificent 7 did the heavy lifting, performing better than any S&P 500 sector ETF on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to post a fresh record close thanks to most of the leading tech companies that have been key to its rally in recent years.
The Magnificent 7 did more than twice as well as the benchmark US stock index today, with Alphabet up more than 2% and Meta, Nvidia, and Amazon all up at least 1%. The sore thumb that stuck out: Apple shares fell 1.5% after the tech giant debuted an extra slim iPhone Air, iPhone Pro with longer battery life, updated AirPods Pro 3 with live language translation, and refreshed Apple Watch line at its annual event. It usually falls during these announcements.
The Nasdaq 100 also rose 0.3%, while the Russell 2000 fell 0.5%.
Materials were far and away the worst-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, while communications services and healthcare posted the biggest gains.
Gains on the day were led by UnitedHealth, which popped 8.7% after the health insurance giant said it expects most of its Medicare Advantage enrollees to be on more lucrative plans next year. Declines were led by Albemarle, which dropped 11.5% after reports that Chinese EV battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology will restart its Yichun lithium mine.
Robinhood hit an all-time high as the brokerage company continues to rise after being tapped for inclusion in the blue-chip S&P 500 on Friday.
(Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company subject to certain legal and regulatory restrictions.)
Nebius surged nearly 50% after the artificial intelligence infrastructure group announced a major deal to supply computing power for Microsoft’s AI operations.
CoreWeave also leapt 7.1% as the news highlighted the immense value and continued demand across the AI data center ecosystem.
Planet Labs fell 6.6%, giving back some of Monday’s pop after the satellite operator (and retail favorite) posted better-than-expected quarterly numbers.
Fox and News Corp dropped 6.7% and 1.7%, respectively, after Rupert Murdoch’s heirs agreed to a $3.3 billion settlement to resolve a long-running succession drama.
