Nasdaq claws back ground lost to US inflation fear

NEW YORK - Tech shares rose as a quiet day of Wall Street trading drew to a close Thursday, recouping losses suffered in the prior session after inflation worries caused a sell-off.

The session was unusual in that Wall Street was open but the bond market and most US government offices were closed for the Veterans Day holiday, depriving investors of many political developments or economic data to consider.

At the close of trading, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was 0.5 percent higher at 15,704.28. The broad-based S&P 500 was up 0.1 percent at 4,649.27.

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4 percent to 35,921.23.

On Wednesday government data showing inflation hitting a 30-year high in October caused indices to fall, with tech shares taking the brunt of the downturn.

The fear is that the Federal Reserve will dial back the easy money policies that Wall Street likes more quickly than expected to contain the price hikes.

Rivian finished up 22.1 percent in its second day of trading after shares of the electric car firm leapt as high as 50 percent in their debut, taking its market capitalization with options and other convertible shares included above that of Detroit's legacy automakers.

Tesla closed 0.4 percent lower after CEO Elon Musk offloaded company shares worth $5 billion. That followed a poll he posted on Twitter asking if he should sell 10 percent of his huge stake in the electric car maker -- to which a majority voted yes.

AFP