US Stocks End Mixed But Nasdaq Closes Higher

The Nasdaq extended a winning streak to seven straight days but the broad market closed slightly lower as investors rotated out of large-cap tech names into other sectors seen as benefiting from US President Joe Biden's proposed US$1.9 trillion stimulus bill.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq hit an all-time high for the fifth consecutive session on early gains in Apple, Amazon.com and Google-parent Alphabet, which later turned lower amid a shift in portfolio allocations.

The NYSE FANG+TM index, which includes Facebook, Netflix and Tesla, rose to an all-time high.

With the number of US Covid-19 cases falling and expectations the stimulus package will be approved in Congress, investors are hard-pressed to find significant negatives, said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

"You're not seeing money coming out of the market and going into cash," James said. "You're seeing money coming out of one sector and being rotated into another sector to maintain an overall long bias."

Largely upbeat corporate earnings, along with monetary and fiscal support, have powered the major US stock indexes to record highs. But analysts caution the new Covid variants and any glitches in vaccine rollouts could sour positive sentiment.

"The backdrop is largely positive for stocks and I'm not sure there could be a better backdrop for risk assets in the near to intermediate term," said William Herrmann, co-founder and managing partner at Wilshire Phoenix in New York City.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.03 percent, to 31,376 and the S&P 500 lost 0.11 percent, to 3,911. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.14 percent, to 14,008.

The energy sector, among those that led the recent rally, slipped a bit, while communication services rose.

Data last week showing slower-than-expected jobs growth in the labour market underscored the need for more government aid to blunt the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, Biden has said.

Democrats in the US Senate continue to try to find a way to include a minimum wage increase in a comprehensive Covid-19 relief bill they aim to advance in the coming weeks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday.

Toymaker Mattel rose, while telephone equipment maker Cisco Systems slipped ahead of reporting earnings after market close. (Reuters)