U.S. stock markets closed mixed on Wednesday after a choppy session. A favorable court ruling of an Internet giant lifted the entire tech sector. However, tariff-related concerns continue to hurt investor’s sentiment. A weak labor market data further aggravated the situation. The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 ended in positive territory while the Dow finished in negative territory.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 0.1% to close at 45,271.23. Notably, 23 components of the 30-stock index ended in negative territory and seven finished in positive territory. At the intraday low, the blue-chip index was down nearly 315 points.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 21,497.73, rising 1% or 218.10 points due to the strong performance of technology stocks. At the intraday high, the tech-laden index was up nearly 274 points.
The S&P 500 gained 0.5% to finish at 6,448.26. Out of the 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index, eight ended in negative territory, and three in positive territory. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) and the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) advanced 0.6% and 1.7%, respectively. On the other hand, the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) tumbled 2.2%.
The fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 4.8% to 16.35. A total of 14.95 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 16.18 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.33-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, a 1.03-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.
On Sep 1, justice Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against the Department of Justice (DOJ) proposal including the forced sale of Google’s Chrome browser. In his judgement, Mehta stated “Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment. Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divestiture of these key assets, which Google did not use to affect any illegal restraints.” Consequently, shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOGL jumped 9.1%.
In August 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against Google for violating Section 2 of the Sherman Act and accused the company of using monopoly power in search and related advertising businesses. However, justice Mehta also ruled that Google will be barred from entering exclusive search deals and must share its search data.
In his ruling, Mehta further stated “Google will not be barred from making payments or offering other consideration to distribution partners for preloading or placement of Google Search, Chrome, or its GenAI products.” Therefore, Google can continue to pay $20 billion per annum to Apple Inc. AAPL to be the default search engine on the Safari browser on iPhones, Macs and iPads. As a result, shares of Apple also surged 3.8%.
Both Alphabet and Apple currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
