Tech stocks’ gains help steady Wall Street

Wall Street was split Monday, as continued gains for technology and health care stocks helped cover up more prevalent losses elsewhere.

The S&P 500 ended the day at a virtual standstill, up just 0.52 points at 2,930.32, despite a lot of movement going on underneath. It rallied back from an earlier loss of 0.9 percent in the morning.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 109.33 points, or 0.4 percent, to 24,221.99, while the Nasdaq composite rose 71.02, or 0.8 percent, to 9,192.34.

Through the muddled day, one of the market’s few points of clarity was that investors continue to love technology stocks.

Even with the coronavirus pandemic throwing the global economy into disarray, tech stocks in the S&P 500 have been remarkably resilient. They’re up 4.1 percent for 2020 as investors look for companies that can be winners in a “normal” and a stay-at-home economy.

Apple rose 1.6 percent, Nvidia added 3.2 percent and Advanced Micro Devices climbed 4.8 percent for one of Monday’s biggest gains in the S&P 500.

This year’s second-best sector has been health care, which has trimmed its loss for 2020 to just 1 percent.

Biotech stocks were particularly strong Monday. And Cardinal Health had the biggest gain in the S&P 500 — 6.7 percent — after reporting stronger-than-expected earnings for its latest quarter, partly because of increased pharmaceutical sales resulting from the pandemic.

Those gains helped make up for 69 percent of stocks falling in the S&P 500. They also leave the index within reach of its highest level since early March.

“People are looking ahead, and they’re saying, ‘OK, the pandemic has happened, and the damage has swept through our economy and our businesses, and now we’re planning on the growth after the carnage, so we’re valuing equities as if we’re going to go back to a decent growth environment,’” said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management.

The S&P 500 has rallied 31 percent since late March, at first on relief after the Federal Reserve and Capitol Hill pledged massive amounts of aid for the economy. More recently, some investors have focused on the possibility of a strong recovery later this year, after governments reopen economies and lift business shutdown orders.

But that optimistic view took some hits Monday, as worries rose about the possibility of new waves of infections hitting countries that are further ahead in lifting lockdown measures. Investors pointed to small but disconcerting increases of infections in South Korea, China and elsewhere.

Energy companies and raw material producers fell on worries that a weaker global economy will need less oil and fewer basic building blocks.