By Amy Caren Daniel
(Reuters) - Apple became the first $1 trillion publicly listed U.S. company on Thursday, leading a rebound in technology stocks and pushing the benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq higher.
Market sentiment was also lifted by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross's comment, who said the tariffs that United States is threatening to impose on Chinese goods would not be disastrous for the Asian nation.
"It's not something that's going to be cataclysmic," he said in an interview with Fox Business Network, explaining that a 25 percent tariff on $200 billion worth of goods would equal to less than 1 percent of China's economy.
"There's optimism now that the U.S. style of threatening tariffs may ultimately come to fruition in a deal," said Brad Neuman, director of market strategy at Alger, a growth equity asset management firm in New York City.
Technology stocks, which were trading lower earlier in the session, rose 1.03 percent.
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Apple jumped 2.8 percent to a record $207.05 to hit the $1 trillion mark, crowning a decade-long rise fueled by its ubiquitous iPhone that transformed it from a niche player in personal computers into a global powerhouse spanning entertainment and communications.
"It's a good sign for the market and the economy. Even though today we're talking about the impact of trade or currency war, an issue with China, Apple who makes most of their products in China is hitting this," said Kim Forrest, senior portfolio manager at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
The trade-sensitive industrial sector fell 0.18 percent. Caterpillar, Boeing and 3M declined between 0.5 percent and 1 percent and weighed on the bluechip Dow Jones Industrial Average.
At 12:48 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 25.93 points, or 0.10 percent, at 25,307.89, the S&P 500 was up 9.64 points, or 0.34 percent, at 2,823.00 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 67.62 points, or 0.88 percent, at 7,774.91.
The materials group fell 0.97 percent, the most among the eight major S&P sectors that were lower, as prices of copper and other base metals slipped.
Tesla jumped 12.7 percent after the electric car maker convinced investors that it was able to produce positive cash flow and turn a profit.
DowDuPont fell 2.4 percent after the chemical producer said it expects higher raw material costs to hit all its units for the rest of the year.
Shares of TripAdvisor and Cognizant slipped 15 percent and 5.9 percent after their earnings failed to impress investors.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.25-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.37-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 10 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 66 new highs and 76 new lows.
(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru and Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)