S&P 500 Ends With Slim Gain In Choppy Wall Street Session

The S&P 500 ended modestly higher in a choppy session on Thursday, August 19, 2021, with gains in tech shares countering losses in cyclical sectors, as investors took the pulse of the economic rebound and gauged when the Federal Reserve might temper its monetary stimulus, Lewis Krauskopf and Ambar Warrick reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Wall Street's last session was a seesaw battle between bear and bull.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 66.57 points, or 0.19%, to 34,894.12, the S&P 500 gained 5.53 points, or 0.13%, to 4,405.8 and the Nasdaq Composite added 15.87 points, or 0.11%, to 14,541.79.

After opening sharply lower, the benchmark S&P 500 erased its declines while swinging between gains and losses during the session.

Technology shone among S&P 500 sectors, rising 1%, helped by a 4% gain for shares of Nvidia Corp. The chip company forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations late on Wednesday as it benefits from a boom in demand.

Consumer staples and real estate - generally considered defensive sectors - both rose about 0.9%. Financials and industrials were among the sectors in the red, falling about 0.8% each.

In company news, shares of U.S. department store chains Macy's Inc. and Kohl's Corp rose 19.6% and 7.3%, respectively, following increased annual sales forecasts. A rebound in the US economy including a stellar second-quarter corporate earnings season on top of accommodative monetary policy has underpinned positive sentiment for equities, with the S&P 500 up about 100% since its March 2020 pandemic low.

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