Two tech titans singlehandedly drag S&P 500 higher
Alphabet and Apple put the stock market on their broad, multitrillion-dollar shoulders.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% and the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.8% while the Russell 2000 dipped 0.1% on Wednesday.
More than all of the daily returns in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF were attributable to just two companies: Alphabet and Apple.
Google was the day’s top performer, up 9.1% after the tech giant avoided some of the worst-case antitrust scenarios tied to its dominant position in search. The court decision helped Apple a ton, too: shares rose 3.8% after Bank of America boosted its price target, saying the company will keep pulling in about $20 billion a year from Google to preload its apps as the default setting on iPhones. Near the close, Bloomberg reported that Apple is developing an AI web search tool for the new Siri and reached an agreement with Google to test using its Gemini model to provide the underlying technology. Meanwhile, Dollar Tree led declines after the retailer handily beat Q2 expectations, but fresh sales guidance suggested weakening momentum in the second half of the year.
Macy’s shares soared 20.6% after the department store chain posted knockout Q2 results and raised its full-year guidance.
Hims & Hers spiked 7.2% after a judge dismissed a lawsuit from Eli Lilly against another rival telehealth firm selling knockoff versions of its GLP-1 drugs.
Campbell’s stock climbed 7.2% after the soup maker ladled out solid Q4 results as more cash-strapped consumers cooked at home, but warned that higher costs would weigh on margins.
Plug Power jumped in the premarket amid a surge of trading volume in the hydrogen fuel cell company before closing up 1.4%.
Oscar Health rose after it reiterated its annual guidance and offered positive commentary on cost trends at the Wells Fargo Healthcare Conference.
Oil names including ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, APA Corporation, Diamondback Energy, Devon Energy, Halliburton, and EOG Resources all dipped after reports that OPEC+ is weighing another output hike of 1.65 million barrels per day.
Canopy Growth shares fell another 6.7%, extending Tuesday’s losses after the cannabis company filed for a $200 million equity raise on Friday.
