US stocks rise as tech shares lead

New York, July 1 (IANS) US equities ended higher as a noticeable rally in tech shares boosted the market.

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 217.88 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 25,812.88. The S&P 500 was up 47.05 points, or 1.54 per cent, to 3,100.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 184.61 points, or 1.87 per cent, to 10,058.77, Xinhua news agency reported.

Shares of US tech giants, the FAANG group of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet, all closed higher.

The S&P 500 technology sector gained 1.92 per cent, among the best-performing groups.

Investors digested testimony from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.

The sooner-than-expected reopening of the US economy has brought “new challenges” for the country, evidenced by recent increases in COVID-19 cases across the nation, Powell has warned.

“We have entered an important new phase and have done so sooner than expected. While this bounceback in economic activity is welcome, it also presents new challenges-notably, the need to keep the virus in check,” he said in prepared remarks before a hearing held by the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday.

More than 2.6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States, with over 127,000 deaths, as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

For the quarter, the Dow rose 17.8 per cent, notching its biggest quarterly rally since 1987. The S&P 500 advanced nearly 20 per cent and the Nasdaq soared 30.6 per cent this quarter.

–IANS

rt/