US STOCKS-Tech stocks push S&P 500 to record numbers, buoy Nasdaq

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* J&J shares hit its low in a month

* Tech companies are increasing the indexes

* Big banking income to start from Wednesday

* Crypto Shares are ahead of Coinbase IPO (Market Close Updates)

April 13 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 closed at another all-time high on Tuesday and the Nasdaq composite index jumped as investors shook off concerns about the halting of the rollout of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine and the strong US inflation.

The drug company’s stock hit a low in a month before some of its losses recovered as calls to stop using its COVID-19 vaccine after six women developed rare blood clots were another setback to the efforts to tackle the pandemic.

The news came as data out of the US showed that the consumer price index (CPI) rose the most in more than 8-1 / 2 years in March, kicking off what the majority of economists expect to be a short period of higher inflation.

US futures initially fell on the J&J news, but held losses well after the CPI data. Solid demand for US Treasury bond issuance on Tuesday afternoon pushed interest rates further down, highlighting investors’ lack of concern about an impending interest rate hike.

Instead, high-flying technology names that flourished during coronavirus-induced lockdowns last year attracted renewed purchases that Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, and Amazon.com Inc. gave a boost.

The broader technology sector also rose, as did the NYSE FANG + TM Index for a record 12th consecutive session.

The S&P 500 closed at record highs on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week.

“The real curveball today is the discontinuation of the J&J vaccine, although this too can be dismissed as a minor setback. While this may cause some short-term volatility, investors are quite steadfast in their confidence in a full economic recovery, ”said Mike Loewengart, director of investment strategy at E * TRADE Financial.

Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 65.96 points or 0.2% to 33,679.44, the S&P 500 gained 13.67 points or 0.33% to 4,141.66 and the Nasdaq Composite 146.10 points, or 1. 05%, to 13,996.10.

Highlighting investors’ unfazed stance was the volatility index, which fell below the 14-month low on Friday during the day.

“This year, 20 had turned out to be a bit of a deepening, but what we’ve seen from the start of this month is that the VIX broke through that level and reached its trading range in the mid-teens, which is notable for the broader risk environment now that we enter earnings season, ”said Greg Boutle, head of US equities and derivatives strategy at BNP Paribas.

The first quarter earnings season kicks off in earnest on Wednesday, with initial reports expected from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo.

Analysts expect earnings for S&P 500 companies to be up 25% from a year earlier, driven by the strength of consumer discretionary and financial companies, according to data from Refinitiv IBES.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related companies, such as Riot Blockchain and Marathon Digital Holdings, won when bitcoin prices soared, a day before the listing of Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange. (Reported by David French in New York and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; edited by Sagarika Jaisinghani, Arun Koyyur, Maju Samuel and Richard Chang)

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