Wall Street steadies as Alphabet jump lifts tech stocks

Wall Street steadied Wednesday as gains in Alphabet and other technology stocks helped offset losses elsewhere, leaving the S&P 500 on track to break a two-day losing streak since setting its latest all-time high.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded about 150 points, or 0.3%, lower as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, was among the strongest movers, jumping 8.3% after a federal judge ordered a shake-up of Google’s search engine but did not require the sale of its Chrome browser.

Because Alphabet is one of the largest companies by market value, its share movement carries outsized influence on the S&P 500 and other market-cap-weighted indexes. Traders said the stock’s rebound helped buoy broader technology-sector sentiment after a recent pullback.

A calmer tone in the bond market also contributed to the steadiness on Wall Street. Bond yields had risen sharply the previous day, putting pressure on equities, as investors reacted to concerns about governments’ abilities to service growing levels of debt and to political pressure on the Federal Reserve to alter short-term interest-rate policy. The easing in yields reduced some of the immediate stress on equities.

Market participants noted that attention remains focused on how legal rulings, monetary policy and global debt dynamics will affect corporate profits and valuations. The antitrust ruling against Google signals potential structural changes for a key technology platform, while moves in fixed-income markets continue to influence equity flows.

Trading remained mixed across sectors, with technology stocks leading gains and industrial and financial names lagging. Investors are watching for further developments in the Google case and for additional signals from the bond market and policymakers that could set the tone for equities in the near term.