Stocks rise as lower bond yields help lift tech companies

Stocks closed moderately higher on Wall Street Thursday as the S&P 500 was helped to a new high by large technology companies that benefitted from lower bond yields.

Bank stocks and energy companies fell, which muted the market’s overall gains.

The S&P 500 index gained 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 1%.

Stocks have benefited this week from a cooling off in the bond market. Yields, which had been steadily ticking higher, have retreated from highs hit earlier in the month. The easing yields have taken some pressure off of technology stocks.

Tech stocks were the biggest benefactors, with Apple and Microsoft shares up more than 1%.

Amazon also rose roughly 1%.

Investors are showing cautious optimism about the economic recovery, especially in the U.S., where vaccine distribution has been ramping up and President Joe Biden has advanced the deadline for states to make doses available to all adults to April 19.

Much of the economy is recovering, but employment needs to pick up in order for a full recovery to occur, analysts say. The market will likely continue to be choppy as investors shift money to some of the sectors and companies hardest hit by the pandemic. They are also weighing signs of economic growth against the lingering threat of COVID-19.

“We’re still at the mercy of the virus and the race between the virus and vaccines and getting a sense of the reopening of the economy,” said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab.