US Equities advance, but economic concerns persist

US equities closed slightly higher on Monday after a mixed trading session, helped by gains in Amazon.com and other mega-cap growth shares, while worries over inflation and interest rates threw heavy shades on the market.

Consumer discretionary and communication services had the day’s biggest gains. But investors are still focused on inflation and rising interest rates. A US consumer price index report next Friday is expected to show continued high inflation, and US Treasury yields rose on Monday.

Shares of Amazon.com Inc surged 2% and were the biggest positive for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq after the online retailer split its shares 20 for 1. Apple shares climbed 0.5%. The tech giant at its annual software developer conference announced among other things that it would more deeply integrate its software into the core driving systems of cars.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 16.08 points, or 0.05%, to 32,915.78, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 12.89 points, or 0.31%, to 4,121.43 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 48.64 points, or 0.4%, to 12,061.37.

Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) shares slipped 1.5% after billionaire Elon Musk said he might walk away from his buyout offer if the social media company fails to provide data on spam and fake accounts.

US-listed shares of Chinese firms rallied after a report that Chinese regulators are concluding probes into ride-hailing giant Didi Global Inc and two other firms. The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB.P) jumped 4.7% and Didi Global gained 24.3%.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.29-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.01-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week high and 29 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 58 new highs and 129 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was 10.64 billion shares, compared with the 12.75 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Robust employment data last Friday lowered hopes of a pause in the Federal Reserve’s aggressive policy-tightening plan to fight inflation. There has been a push-pull in the markets now for a while. The jobs report provided sufficient evidence that the US economy is still in OK shape, but with inflation running higher and commodity prices still rising and putting in new all-time highs, maybe that peak of inflation is still far from where markets stand today.