US stock indexes slipped on Thursday on Wall Street after three straight days of gains following positive updates on the Omicron coronavirus variant, with focus now turning towards inflation data for clues on the Federal Reserve’s policy decision.
Ten of the 11 major S&P sectors declined, with real-estate , energy and consumer discretionary shares falling the most.
Wall Street has had a mixed session.Credit:NYSE
In early afternoon trade, the S&P 500 has shed 0.2 per cent, the Dow Jones is up 0.1 per cent and the Nasdaq has fallen by 0.7 per cent. The Australian sharemarket is set to dip lower with futures at 4.59am AEDT pointing to a fall of 4 points, or 0.1 per cent, at the open.
Heavyweight technology stocks including Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla fell to weigh the most on the Nasdaq index, while Apple and Meta Platforms rose.
The iPhone maker’s shares were about $US7 shy of their mark to reach $US3 trillion ($4.2 trillion) in valuation that would make the company as big as the world’s fifth-largest economy after Germany.
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“As Apple gets bigger and bigger, it’s a reminder of the dominance of those stocks … that could make things difficult for investors who are not really looking to own those names,” said David Keller, chief market strategist at StockCharts.com.
Wall Street’s main indexes were supported this week by an update showing Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine offered some protection against the new Omicron variant.
Markets have seesawed since late November when the latest variant was discovered, with investors worried Omicron could upend a global recovery at a time when the Fed has signalled a speedier tapering of monetary stimulus to tackle surging inflation.
