S&P 500 closes above 3,400 for first time

New York, Aug 25 (IANS) US stocks rose with the S&P 500 closing above the 3,400 threshold for the first time, bolstered by gains in some big tech-related names.On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 378.13 points, or 1.35 per cent, to end at 28,308.46. The S&P 500 increased 34.12 points, or 1.00 per cent, to 3,431.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 67.92 points, or 0.60 per cent, to 11,379.72, Xinhua news agency reported.Shares of US tech giants Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet all closed higher.Ten of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors advanced, with communication services and technology up 1.06 percent and 0.87 percent, respectively.Meanwhile, US-listed Chinese companies traded mostly higher, with seven of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P US Listed China 50 index ending the day on an upbeat note."We continue to see opportunities in the broader technology sector in industries boosted by the pandemic," analysts at UBS said in a note on Monday, adding "laggards and long-term themes are likely to support the next leg higher."On the data front, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, a monthly index designed to gauge overall US economic activity and related inflationary pressure, declined to 1.18 in July from 5.33 in June, the Chicago Fed said on Monday. Economists polled by FactSet expected the index to be at a much higher level of 4.0.
--IANS rt/