By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended slightly higher on Monday with gains in Amazon.com and other mega-cap growth shares offset by persistent worries over inflation.
Shares of Amazon.com Inc rose in the stock’s first day of trading after adjusting to a 20-for-1 split.
A solid jobs report on Friday lowered hopes of a pause in the Federal Reserve’s aggressive policy-tightening plan.
Investors are keeping a close eye on inflation data, with a U.S. consumer price index report on Friday expected to show still-high inflation. U.S. Treasury yields rose on Monday.
“There’s been a push-pull in the markets now for a while,” said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management in Chicago.
The jobs report was evidence that “the economy is still in OK shape,” he said. But “with inflation running kind of high and commodity prices still rising and putting in new all-time highs, maybe that peak of inflation is still in that ethereal future.”
Helping sentiment were easing regulatory crackdowns in China and signs in parts of China of a return to more normal activity after the country’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak in two years.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 12.38 points, or 0.30%, to end at 4,120.92 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 53.25 points, or 0.44%, to 12,059.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 21.75 points, or 0.07%, to 32,921.45.
Twitter Inc shares slipped after billionaire Elon Musk said he might walk away from his buyout offer if the social media company fails to provide data on spam and fake accounts.
Didi Global Inc jumped after a report that Chinese regulators were preparing as early as this week to allow the ride-hailing firm’s mobile app back on domestic app stores.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York; Additional reporting by Medha Singh, Susan Mathew and Devik Jain in Bengaluru and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by Maju Samuel and Matthew Lewis)