[New York Market Briefing] Nasdaq up 1% on tech rally…Alphabet 'surges' after escaping antitrust risk

Major indexes on Wall Street showed strength as technology stocks rose, after a local court ruling that Google does not have to divest the Chrome web browser.

On the 3rd (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 45,271.23, down 24.58 points (0.05%) from the previous day, while the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 rose 32.72 points (0.51%) to 6,448.26, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 218.10 points (1.02%) to 21,497.73.

Alphabet, Google's parent company, surged more than 9%, improving sentiment toward tech stocks. The U.S. federal court's ruling after the market close the previous day found that Google does not have to divest Chrome, one of its core businesses. However, Alphabet cannot enter exclusive search contracts and must share search data with rival firms. The ruling removed uncertainty related to antitrust law violations for Google.

Apple also rose in the 3% range, since the ruling allows Apple to continue preinstalling Google search on the iPhone.

U.S. department store chain Macy's jumped about 20% after reporting second-quarter results that far exceeded expectations.

Other stock movement was sluggish. With the pressure from record highs persisting, deterioration in the U.S. labor market also appeared to weigh on stocks. By the afternoon, the Dow trimmed losses and recovered to near flat.

U.S. No. 3 oil producer ConocoPhillips said it would cut about 20–25% of its workforce, and its shares fell more than 4%.

By sector, energy plunged more than 2%, while communication services surged 3.76%.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, composed of AI and semiconductor-related stocks, fell 0.23%.

Employment data were weak. In July, U.S. job openings fell short of market expectations and hit a 10-month low. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), on a seasonally adjusted basis job openings were 7,181,000, below the market estimate of 7,400,000 and the lowest level since September last year at 7,103,000.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, federal funds rate futures priced in a 95.6% chance of a 25bp rate cut in September. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) closed at 16.35, down 0.82 points (4.78%).

Hankyung.com reporter Han Kyung-woo case@hankyung.com