Wall Street pares early losses to close in green, Apple’s market cap hits $1 trillion

• Apple became the first publicly traded company to hit $1 trillion market cap on Thursday.
• Technology outperforms other major sectors.
• Tech-heavy Nasdaq adds more than 1%.

Major equity indexes started the day on a negative note as escalating trade fears weighed on European and Asian stocks. However, Apple’s impressive performance continued on Thursday with a 3% gain and it became the first publicly traded company to reach a market capitalization of $1 trillion to improve the market sentiment. Boosted by this development, the S&P 500 Information Technology Index added 1.4% to outperform all the other major sectors for the second day in a row.

“It’s a good sign for the market and the economy. Even though today we’re talking about the impact of trade or currency war, an issue with China, Apple who makes most of their products in China is hitting this,” Kim Forrest, senior portfolio manager at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh, told Reuters.

On the other hand, falling prices of copper and other base metals forced the S&P 500 Materials Sector to close the day 0.72% lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged at the end of the day at 25,328.40 points, the S&P 500 rose 14.05  points, or 0.5%, to 2,827.41 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 96.71 points, or 1.25%, to 7,803.99.

DJIA Technical Outlook (via FXStreet Chief Analyst Valeria Bednarik)

“The daily chart for the Dow shows that the index closed little changed for a third consecutive day,  and still above the 23.6% retracement of the latest bullish run, but posted a lower low and a lower high that leans the risk toward the downside. The intraday low briefly pierced a bullish 20 DMA, while technical indicators continue losing ground within positive levels, moving closer to their midlines.”

“Shorter term, and according to the 4 hours chart, the late recovery stalled around a mildly bearish 20 SMA, while buyers surged around a bullish 100 SMA. Technical indicators in this last time frame remain unable to surpass their midlines, now turning marginally lower in neutral readings.”

According to the analyst, supports could be seen at  25,277, 25,222, and 25,168 while resistances align at 25,361, 25,404, and 25,446.