Tech sees gains even as other stocks fall

NEW YORK — Big technology companies powered more gains on Wall Street Thursday, even as most stocks fell following more discouraging data on the economy.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent after rallying back from an earlier 0.6 percent loss as investors weighed new government data showing an increase in the number of Americans who sought unemployment aid last week.

Tech stocks in the S&P 500 nevertheless rose 1.4 percent, continuing a remarkable run of resilience that has carried through the pandemic.

The industry has been delivering big profits as the pandemic accelerates work-from-home and other tech-friendly trends.

And because they’re among the biggest stocks by total market value, their movements carry more weight on the index. The initial downward move for stocks Tuesday followed a government report indicating that slightly more than 1.1 million U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week.

That’s up from 971,000 the prior week and an indication that the pace of improvements for layoffs may be stalling.

The number of jobless claims had been on a steady march downward since March, and the prior week marked the first time the total had eased below 1 million since just before the pandemic shuttered businesses across the country. Thursday’s back-and-forth moves for the broader market follow up on its sudden loss of momentum Wednesday.

Stock indexes began dipping immediately after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its last meeting.

The Fed has been a central reason for the stock market’s rocket ride back to record heights, due to its promises to keep short-term interest rates at their record low of nearly zero and to continue buying reams of bonds to support markets.

The Fed’s minutes showed that policymakers still find it very difficult to predict the path of the economy, which depends so much on what happens with the virus. They also showed that several Fed officials aren’t very excited about the idea of putting caps on yields beyond ultrashort-term rates, a move that some investors had been speculating could be next for the central bank to help markets.

Apple was among the stocks that led the tech sector’s gains Tuesday. The iPhone maker rose 2.2 percent and is once again flirting with a total market value of $2 trillion. It’s the first U.S. stock to cross that threshold.

Intel rose 1.7 percent after it said it will speed up $10 billion in buybacks of its own stock because it sees the price as cheap relative to its value.