news/GOOGL/2023.02.13/Wall St climbs higher on lift from battered growth stocks.txt

(In seventh paragraph, corrects sector name to "communication
services", not "consumer services")*Meta climbs on report of more layoffs*Fidelity National slumps on payments business spinoff*Indexes up: Dow 0.58%, S&P 0.52%, Nasdaq 0.65%Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. main stock indexes rose on
Monday as investors piled into beaten-down megacap growth stocks
with a decline in Treasury yields boosting sentiment, while Meta
Platforms gained on reports the Facebook parent was planning
fresh layoffs.Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc
, and Microsoft Corp added between 0.7% and
3.4%, pushing up the Russell 1000 Growth sector by 0.7%."(Investors) have been holding back during the regime of
rate hikes because they believed it would kill the growth of
technology type stocks," said Peter Andersen, founder of
Andersen Capital Management.Andersen added that the Fed is now signaling that its near
the end of its tightening cycle, which could provide an added
boost to such high-growth firms.All U.S. indexes clocked their worst declines last year
since the financial crisis of 2008, led by a 33% slump in the
tech-heavy Nasdaq, on fears that the Federal Reserve
would tip the economy into a recession with its hawkish monetary
policy.While money markets are expecting rates to peak to 5.2% in
July, a resilient labor market has lifted hopes of a
milder-than-expected recession.Meanwhile, Meta rose 1.8% on reports over the
weekend that the Facebook parent is preparing to announce a
fresh round of job cuts, pushing the communication services
sector 0.3% higher.Microsoft added 3.4% and was the biggest boost to the
blue-chip Dow after brokerage Stifel said the tech-giant
is clearly looking to up-end Alphabet's Google Search dominance
through its integration with ChatGPT.Ten of the 11 major S&P 500 sector were in the black, with
the energy sector's 1.1% fall making it the sole sector
lower as crude oil prices slipped on caution ahead of domestic
inflation data.Markets now await January inflation on Tuesday and retail
sales data later in the week to reassess their bets on the
central bank's monetary policy path.At 10:12 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
was up 196.57 points, or 0.58%, at 34,065.84, the S&P 500
was up 21.17 points, or 0.52%, at 4,111.63, and the Nasdaq
Composite was up 75.59 points, or 0.65%, at 11,793.71.Further buoying gains in megacap names was declining yields
on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note after hitting a
fresh six-week high earlier in the day.A fall in Treasury note yields indicate traders expect
greater return from investments in risky assets.Fidelity National Information Services Inc plunged
15.4% following its decision to spin off its merchant payments
business.Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.26-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.31-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.The S&P index recorded three new 52-week highs and no new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 39 new highs and 41 new lows.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju
Samuel and Sriraj Kalluvila)