Tech stocks, Amazon boost Wall Street

Treasuries edge higher as investors await Federal Reserve meeting minutes

US stocks were higher yesterday, with technology shares and Amazon driving gains ahead of minutes of the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting.

The Fed left rates unchanged at the January meeting, but investors will look for its opinion on inflation and interest rates, especially after strong economic data raised concerns of an overheating economy and triggered the recent sell-off.

“While the minutes may not generate quite the same response, traders will likely monitor what they say very closely for signs that policymakers are now leaning more towards three-to-four rate hikes this year, rather than two or three,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at online forex broker Oanda.

Investors also took stock of the latest developments in the Broadcom-Qualcomm takeover saga.

Broadcom Corp lowered its takeover offer for chipmaker Qualcomm to account for the latter’s increased offer for NXP Semiconductors NV.

Qualcomm shares fell more than 1.5 per cent.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.56 per cent to 7,274.62 and the S&P 500 was up 0.41 per cent at 2,727.5.

Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 0.8 per cent gain in consumer discretionary shares. Amazon was up 1.3 per cent and Netflix 1.7 per cent. The S&P technology index rose 0.5 per cent. The top gainers were Apple, Alphabet and Facebook.

The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yields are still near four-year highs at 2.8859.

Wall Street’s fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility index, eased at 19.21, below Friday’s close of 19.46.