Monday’s early trade: Nasdaq jumps to all-time high

• Boeing falls on possible delay in 777X certification

NEW YORK: The Nasdaq jumped to an all-time high on Monday, supported by tech-related stocks amid fears over a spike in Covid-19 cases across Asia, while investors awaited data on the US labour market in the week.

Stay-at-home winners including Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Nvidia Corp were among the biggest boosts to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

In contrast, reopening sectors dropped sharply - financials, energy and airlines fell between 1.2% and 3.5%. All major S&P sectors fell, except technology and utilities which gained 1.1% and 0.8%.

The S&P 500 on Friday logged its best weekly performance in 20 following a bipartisan agreement on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending deal and waning concerns about a sooner -than-expected policy tightening from the Federal Reserve.

Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit a series of record highs last week. But the tech-heavy Nasdaq’s 5% gain is outpacing its peers in June as investors pile back into tech-oriented growth stocks on waning worries about runaway inflation.

“There’s more Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) than the fear of losing money here right now and tech stocks have a lot of FOMO,” said Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC.

With the S&P 500 up almost 14% as the first half of 2021 draws to a close, activity in some areas of the market indicates concern over potential volatility, with some investors suggesting the market may be overdue for a significant pullback.

At 11:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 193.85 points, or 0.56%, at 34,239.99, weighed down by Boeing Co’s 3% fall after the US Federal Aviation Administration told the planemaker that its planned 777X is not yet ready for a significant certification step.

The S&P 500 was down 1.48 points, or 0.03%, at 4,279.22 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 98.56 points, or 0.69%, at 14,458.95.

On the economic front, attention will be on consumer confidence data, a private jobs report and a crucial monthly employment report. Quarterly results from Micron Technology and Walgreens are also slated for this week.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.8-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.1-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 183 new highs and 22 new lows.