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Dow Higher as Defensive Names Step Out of Tech Shadow

Published 02/09/2020, 18:03
Updated 02/09/2020, 18:10
© Reuters.
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By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The Dow on Wednesday, as defensive concerns of the market like utilities and consumer staples got a chance to shine after tech stocks took a breather.  

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.68%, or 247 points, the S&P 500 added 0.87%, and  the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.31%.

In a sign that investors could be worried that the run-up in growth stocks like tech is nearing a top, utilities were among the biggest gainers, led by a more than 3% jump in Exelon (NASDAQ:EXC) and PPL (NYSE:PPL).

Consumer staples were not far behind thanks to a more than 4% rise in Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) and 9% jump in whiskey maker Brown Forman (NYSE:BFb).

Brown Forman reported first-quarter fiscal first-quarter earnings of 67 cents on revenue of $753 million, topping estimates for earnings of 39 cents a share, on revenue of $691.2 million.

Technology stocks took a step back, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) easing 3%, though still remains up about 80% for the year so far, riding high on growing investor optimism over its upcoming launch of the iPhone 12, which many Wall Street expect will spark a wave of upgrades.

Energy, meanwhile, continued its sluggish start to the week on falling oil prices slipped despite data showing a larger-than-expected 9.3 million barrel draw in weekly U.S. crude stocks.

On the economic front, investors digested a weaker-than-expected private jobs report.

The U.S. economy created 428,000 private jobs last month, well short of estimates of 1.17 million.

But the softer-than-expected jobs report ahead of the nonfarm payrolls due Friday, did little to cool expectations for a strong economic recovery

"ADP’s measure has undershot the official estimate of private payrolls in recent months, but the error diminished sharply in both June and July.  Assuming a further narrowing of the gap in August, we expect Friday’s official headline print to be about 750,000," Pantheon Macroeconomics said.

In other news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell more than 6% after its largest outside shareholder Baillie Gifford cut some of its holdings in the company, citing portfolio restrictions in the wake of the massive run higher in the stock. 

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