NEW YORK (Reuters) – Technology shares edged higher on Friday as results from Baidu Inc (BIDU.O) and SanDisk (SNDK.O) bolstered the outlook for the sector, while the broad market was little changed.
Keeping investors skittish was a Group of 20 nations meeting that sought a common path to manage global trade, currency and macroeconomic imbalances.
SanDisk, a maker of flash memory, gained 1 percent to $37.50 and Baidu, the Chinese Web search engine, rose 4.5 percent to $107.07, a day after both companies posted results.
Also among tech gainers were shares of online retailer Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), which advanced 2 percent to $168.19 after Wall Street analysts raised their price targets on the company, even as Amazon gave a disappointing forecast on Thursday.
«A lot of (tech) companies have really restructured into really strong balance sheets and, I think, are in a prolonged period of either acquiring or developing new assets,» said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist for Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto.
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was down 33.76 points, or 0.30 percent, at 11,112.81. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) was down 0.11 point, or 0.01 percent, at 1,180.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was up 10.21 points, or 0.42 percent, at 2,469.88.
Technology led gains in the recent rally, and the Nasdaq is up 17 percent since the end of August compared with the S&P 500, which is up 12.6 percent.
Early reports from technology companies have given a mostly rosy picture of the sector’s future, including Google’s (GOOG.O) much stronger-than-expected earnings a week ago. Baidu late Thursday gave a robust outlook for its business.
The S&P 500 sent a bullish signal as the index’s 50-day moving average crossed above its 200-day moving average, known as a golden cross. That upward momentum indicator last occurred in June 2009, and the benchmark index rose more than 35 percent in the following 10 months.
The bullish signal can’t be counted on always to signal an up market, according to Chris Burba, short-term market technician at Standard & Poor’s in New York. «If you get a golden cross when the market has been consolidating for a while, you have a much higher probability the market is going to take off,» he said.
The U.S. dollar zigzagged against a basket of currencies (.DXY) on wariness over what, if any, deal would be reached by finance ministers and central bank chiefs at the G20 meeting in South Korea. The euro also traded choppily against the greenback.
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Two top U.S. Federal Reserve officials gave contrasting views on the need for more stimulus for the economy, continuing a public debate over further monetary easing, even though most Fed policymakers appear to favor such a move.
Growing speculation in recent weeks that the Fed will extend the quantitative easing measures at its next meeting in November has pressured the dollar while boosting equities, but uncertainty over the extent of the stimulus has caused market volatility.
Equity markets have traded of late in tandem with the euro, with S&P futures rising along with Europe’s single currency.