© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 7, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/FILE PHOTO
By Sinéad Carew and Bansari Mayur Kamdar
(Reuters) -The and the Nasdaq lost ground on Friday after touching record highs, with high-flying chip stocks going into reverse and a labor market report that showed more new jobs than expected while the unemployment rate also unexpectedly rose.
The S&P and Nasdaq briefly hit intraday record highs but started to lose steam late morning. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose to an intraday record and then retreated to lead declines.
Artificial intelligence chip darling Nvidia (NASDAQ:) lost ground after rising more than 5% and hitting a record high. It had closed higher for the previous six sessions.
In the chip index, Broadcom (NASDAQ:) also sank after its full-year forecast failed to impress investors and Marvell (NASDAQ:) Technology fell after it forecast first-quarter results below market expectations on soft demand.
Stocks opened higher after data showed U.S. job growth accelerated in February, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by 275,000 jobs against an expected 200,000 rise. January jobs numbers were revised lower.
Also, the unemployment rate rose to 3.9% in February after holding at 3.7% for three straight months, while wage growth slowed to 0.1% on a monthly basis.
“Today is just profit taking,” said Brian Price, head of investment management for Commonwealth Financial Network who described the week as “a microcosm of the year so far” with modest pull backs and buyers stepping in.
Price pointed to some signs of consumers being more discretionary in spending, with Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:) shares losing ground as quarterly sales fell short of estimates due to tepid demand for higher-margin goods.
But Price said “the general bias right now is for the market to continue to move higher, absent negative catalysts.”
“That’s really what the market is hanging its hat on right now, that inflation is going to continue to be benign, that the Fed is going to start to ease.”
Next week’s February data including consumer prices (CPI) and retail sales will offer more cues on the prospects for potential rate cuts.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 32.99 points, or 0.64%, to end at 5,124.37 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 185.22 points, or 1.14%, to 16,085.11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 66.28 points, or 0.17%, to 38,725.74.
“People may be taking some chips off the table. We’ve had a decent run. Some of the technology names had moved up quite a bit,” said Charlie Ripley, Senior Investment Strategist for Allianz (ETR:) Investment Management.
“When you’ve markets which have run up as much as this has since the start of the year, with returns coming in a strong as they have, these types of pull backs are healthy to see.”
On Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was “not far” from gaining the confidence that inflation is falling sufficiently to begin cutting interest rates.
Gap shares rose after the retailer beat Wall Street expectations for fourth-quarter results, buoyed by strong demand on improved product offerings at its Old Navy and namesake brands during the holiday season, and lower markdowns.
