Wall Street indexes edge up with gains in energy and financial shares

By Lewis Krauskopf, Shashank Nayar and Medha Singh

(Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes edged higher on Tuesday, with gains in energy and financial shares countering declines in tech and healthcare, as investors weighed the latest U.S. economic data for signs of a rebound and rising inflation.

The S&P 500 financial sector hit a record high, while expected growth in fuel demand boosted oil prices and helped lift the energy sector over 3%. The heavyweight tech sector dipped while healthcare was dragged down by a weak profit forecast from Abbott Laboratories.

Data showed U.S. manufacturing activity picked up in May as pent-up demand in a reopening economy boosted orders. But unfinished work piled up because of shortages of raw materials and labor.

"The economy certainly is growing and that's a positive, and again it's a positive for the most cyclical parts of the stock market," said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco in New York.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 86.29 points, or 0.25%, to 34,615.74, the S&P 500 gained 2.84 points, or 0.07%, at 4,206.95 and the Nasdaq Composite added 5.55 points, or 0.04%, at 13,754.29.

While the S&P 500 remains within about 1% of its record high after four straight months of gains, investors are worried about whether rising inflation could hit equity prices.

Stock markets on Friday brushed off a surge in key inflation readings for April following reassurances from Federal Reserve officials that the central bank's ultra-loose monetary policy would remain in place.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari and Fed Vice Chair for supervision Randal Quarles on Tuesday reiterated the view that higher prices would be transitory.

This week's focus will be on a raft of economic data, culminating with U.S. payrolls due on Friday.

Abbott Labs shares fell 8.3% after the company cut its full-year 2021 profit forecast, citing expectations for a sharp decline in revenue from its COVID-19 tests as more Americans get vaccinated. Shares of other test makers also fell.

Cloudera Inc shares jumped 23.9% after private equity firms KKR & Co and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC agreed to take the data analytics firm private.

A group of "meme stocks" extended gains from the previous week, with shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc up 23.8% after the movie theater chain said it sold $230 million of its stock.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.13-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.62-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 68 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 146 new highs and 19 new lows.

 

(Reporting by Shashank Nayar and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Maju Samuel and Richard Chang)