U.S. stocks break four-day losing skid as Apple, Amazon climb

NEW YORK—After four days of modest losses, Apple and Amazon led the U.S. stock market to small gains on Thursday. Internet and health care companies rose while mining companies fell with metals prices.

Apple and Amazon are the two most valuable U.S. companies, and analysts said each stock should keep climbing. Other market favorites including Facebook and Google parent Alphabet also rose.

Interest rates slipped for a second day, which led to losses for banks, while the stronger dollar weighed on metals prices and on shares of the companies that mine those metals. Smaller companies, which have struggled in September, also fell.

Scott Wren, senior global equity strategist for the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said investors have been reluctant to get back into the stock market since the 2008-09 recession, and there are signs that’s changing.

The S&P 500 index rose 8.03 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,914. Despite its recent losing streak, the benchmark index is up more than 7 percent since the end of June. With one day left in the third quarter, the S&P 500 is on track for its best quarter since the end of 2013.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 54.65 points, or 0.2 percent, to 26,439.93. The Nasdaq composite climbed 51.60 points, or 0.6 percent, to 8,041.97. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks dipped 1.08 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,690.53.

Apple rose after JP Morgan Chase analyst Samik Chatterjee said the stock could climb another 20 percent by the end of next year. Chatterjee said the company was successfully building up its services businesses such as music and payments, which could bring in 20 percent of Apple’s annual revenue in the next few years. Chatterjee said the company might make acquisitions in the gaming, automotive or smart speaker businesses.

Apple rose 2.1 percent to $224.95. Elsewhere in the technology sector, Salesforce.com rose 1.3 percent to $160.43. Internet companies also rose. Alphabet rose 1.1 percent to $1,207.36 and Facebook rose 1.1 percent to $168.84.

Amazon rose 1.9 percent to $2,012.98 after Stifel analyst Scott Devitt forecast more revenue for its retail, advertising and web services units and raised his price target to $2,525 a share. That would value Amazon at about $1.2 trillion.

Wren, of Wells Fargo, said many smaller investors have been reluctant to put too much money in the stock market, and with more U.S. workers nearing retirement age, that is probably not going to change. Some experts worry when retail investors hurry into the market because it can be a sign stock prices are going to get too high. But Wren said he’s not concerned about that possibility yet.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.8 percent to $72.12 per barrel in New York while Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 0.5 percent to $81.72 per barrel in London.

Wholesale gasoline rose 1.2 percent to $2.08 a gallon. Heating oil gained 1 percent to $2.32 a gallon. Natural gas rose 2.6 percent to $3.06 per 1,000 cubic feet.