~*~Mining and Metals Du Jour~*~

[JD400]

Technology stocks push S&P 500 to record high after jobless claims, inflation data
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Biodiverse Borderlands

Summary

Weekly jobless claims fall as expected
Micron drops as MS downgrades to 'equal-weight'
Producer prices rise at fastest pace in a decade
Palantir rises on Q2 revenue beat, upbeat outlook
Indexes: Dow down 0.20%, S&P up 0.11%, Nasdaq rises 0.12%

Aug 12 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 inched to a record high on Thursday, with mega-cap technology stocks taking charge as investors weighed data showing a steady jobs market recovery against a rise in producer prices.

Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) provided the biggest boost to the tech-heavy Nasdaq (.IXIC) and the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) indexes.

Healthcare (.SPXHC) and technology (.SPLRCT) were the best performing S&P 500 sectors.

On the other hand, economy-linked energy (.SPNY), industrials (.SPLRCI) and materials (.SPLRCM) shares declined, pulling the blue-chip Dow (.DJI) from record highs on the heels of multi-trillion dollar infrastructure bills.

The reversal in the sentiment came after data showed U.S. producer prices posted their largest annual increase in more than a decade, in contrast to Wednesday's reading, which showed growth in consumer prices appeared to be slowing.

"The numbers reflect continuing supply chain challenges that are well known and I don't believe that it changes Federal Reserve policy positioning one way or the other," said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E*TRADE Financial.

"Everyone is expecting potentially tapering to begin in September ... but for the most part, it would not change the conducive environment that we are currently in, for additional gains in equity markets."

Trading volumes have dwindled in recent sessions, as a stellar second-quarter earnings season winds to a close. Focus has now shifted towards the U.S. central bank's Jackson Hole, Wyoming, meeting later this month, for clues on its potential plan to tighten policy.

"This is summer doldrums at its finest and there's not a whole lot to do unless there's a major headline, we're kind of seeing the market just muddle along here," said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital in New York.

At 12:27 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) was down 45.14 points, or 0.13%, at 35,439.83 and the S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 4.72 points, or 0.11%, at 4,452.42.

The Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was up 18.15 points, or 0.12%, at 14,783.28, breaking a two-day losing streak.

Micron Technology (MU.O) dropped 7.3% to the bottom of the S&P 500 after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "equal-weight".

In earnings-related moves, Baidu Inc's U.S. shares dropped 4.3% even after the company posted upbeat quarterly revenue.

Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR.N) gained 10.4% after the U.S. data analytics firm forecast third-quarter sales above expectations. read more

Earnings reports from Walt Disney Co (DIS.N), home rental firm Airbnb Inc (ABNB.O) and food-delivery firm DoorDash Inc (DASH.N) are due later in the day.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.37-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.68-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 41 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 67 new highs and 121 new lows.
Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni and Maju Samuel

MARKET MOVERS

PBTS 2.02 59.05% 185968626 Top Gainers
IEC 15.28 46.83% 2412384 Top Gainers
XONE 25.10 45.26% 9862991 Top Gainers
ACY 34.49 38.01% 7941001 Top Gainers
NAOV 3.04 31.60% 72351868 Top Gainers
KNBE 25.50 21.26% 6751522 Top Gainers
DOCS 80.60 14.47% 4943055 New High
ADGI 28.21 1.62% 447022 New High
MGIC 19.53 12.58% 107422 New High
DVAX 12.48 2.93% 2207832 New High
LEGO 11.57 3.81% 881853 Overbought
FULC 20.75 2.70% 8192701 Overbought
CNFR 3.23 13.74% 5054963 Unusual Volume
PBTS 2.02 59.05% 185968626 Unusual Volume
IEC 15.28 46.83% 2412384 Unusual Volume
BYTS 9.64 -0.31% 1387491 Unusual Volume
CGC 18.57 -1.64% 1082809 Upgrades
ADN 7.75 -6.74% 143499 Earnings Before
SRLP 17.71 -0.06% 30178 Insider Buying

MINING MOVERS

Company Change Last% Trade

Lithium Americas 0.93 4.20 $23.06
Abitibi Royalties 0.48 2.34 $20.96
Neo Lithium 0.48 12.90 $4.20
Nouveau Monde Graphite 0.31 3.66 $8.78
Largo Resources 0.28 1.54 $18.49
Lundin Gold 0.21 1.88 $11.39
Aurania Resources 0.20 8.06 $2.68
Polymet Mining 0.19 4.75 $4.19
Constantine Metal Resources 0.18 42.86 $0.60
American Lithium 0.14 8.70 $1.75
New Found Gold 0.14 1.53 $9.28
Chesapeake Gold 0.12 2.84 $4.35
Nova Royalty 0.12 3.31 $3.75
Fosterville South Exploration 0.11 8.94 $1.34
EMX Royalty 0.08 2.21 $3.70

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