Wall Street hits high score as videogame makers rally

Reuters

Published Nov 08, 2017 04:18PM ET

Wall Street hits high score as videogame makers rally

By Noel Randewich

(Reuters) - Wall Street closed at a record high on Wednesday as videogame makers rallied and Apple's market value climbed above $900 billion.

Take-Two Interactive Software jumped 10.58 percent after the videogame maker offered a stronger-than-expected revenue forecast for the holiday quarter.

That sparked a rally among its competitors, with Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) surging 5.89 percent and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) adding 2.19 percent.

Buoyed by optimism about the recently released iPhone X, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 0.82 percent and ended with a market capitalization of $905 billion, its highest ever.

More broadly, investors remained nervous about the potential outcome of the Republican plan unveiled last week that would cut corporate taxes while eliminating a range of popular tax breaks. The bill is expected to face strong opposition from interest groups.

Republicans have yet to score a major legislative win since Trump took office in January, even though the party controls both chambers of Congress as well as the White House.

"It's a complicated, messy affair to get a tax bill passed," said Tim Dreiling, Regional investment Director for U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management, with $150 billion in assets under management.

"There is going to be some give and take before we get a final tax package to be voted on."

The S&P 500 has risen about 21 percent since the election of President Donald Trump a year ago, partly on the back of his promises to cut taxes and other business-friendly measures.

The three major indexes closed at record highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.03 percent to end at 23,563.36, while the S&P 500 gained 0.14 percent to 2,594.38.

The Nasdaq Composite added 0.32 percent to 6,789.12.

Six of the 11 major S&P sectors rose, led by a 1.08-percent increase in consumer staples.

The tech sector was boosted 0.5 percent by a 2.17 percent rise in Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) after the smartphone chipmaker launched a server processor aimed at challenging Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). Intel declined 0.17 percent.

Snapchat owner Snap fell 14.62 percent a day after reporting much-slower-than expected advertising revenue and user growth. Snap said China's Tencent bought a 12-percent stake in the company.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.03-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.05-to-1 ratio favored decliners.