US open: Tech stocks push markets higher early on

(Sharecast News) - US stocks bounced back on Thursday with investors hunting for bargains following recent losses, though gains were only modest as traders slowly returned to their desks after the New Year's break. By 1035 ET, the Dow was up 0.1% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 0.2%, with the tech sector keeping markets in positive territory.

"Investors appear to be taking advantage of last month's pullback across the 'Magnificent Seven' to buy in at (slightly) cheaper levels," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.

"The question for the next few weeks seems to be whether the recent pickup in bond yields is due to concerns of future inflationary pressures, fanned by Trump's tariff threats, or for the more benign expectation of stronger economic growth ahead."

The yield on a 10-year US Treasury note was down 2.3 basis points at 4.553%, but was staying above the 4.50% mark - a level it has not dipped under since 17 December.

In economic news, initial jobless claims fell to 211,000 in the week ended 28 December, down from a revised 220,000 (initial estimate: 219,000) the week before. This was the fourth straight decline in weekly claims, below the consensus forecast of 222,000 and the lowest weekly reading since the week ended 27 April 2024.

Meanwhile the US manufacturing purchasing managers' index slipped to 49.4 last month, down from 49.7 in November but up from the flash reading of 48.3 published two weeks ago. While this was a better than economists' predictions for no change form the initial estimate, this was still the sixth straight month below the key 50-point level which separates growth from contraction.

A number of blue-chip tech stocks were providing a lift early on, including Amazon.com, Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft and Nvidia.

However, Tesla was out of favour, dropping 6% on the news that the electric carmaker's annual deliveries declined for the first time in more than a decade in 2024. The company achieved a quarterly record of 495,570 global deliveries in the fourth quarter, but that was still lower than the 515,000 needed for annual deliveries to surpass 2023's levels.

Also lower was Boeing as the company continues to make headlines for the Jeju Air disaster, after a 737-800 aircraft crashed in South Korea, killing 179 people.