S&P, Nasdaq end lower in fickle trading, megacap trend uncertain
US economic growth regains steam in Q2; inflation slows
Ford slumps as higher costs, EV unit dent profit growth
IBM gets boost from software, AI demand, as consulting slips
Gains for small-cap indexes Russell 2000 and S&P Small Cap 600
Indexes: Dow up 0.2%, S&P down 0.51%, Nasdaq 0.93% lower
Updates with closing prices
By David French
July 25 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended a fickle session weaker on Thursday, failing to regain ground lost in the previous day's tech-triggered sell-off as investors grappled with the likely direction of megacaps.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hung onto earlygains to close higher on stronger-than-expected U.S. gross domestic productdata.
Small-cap stocks also rose as investors sought out value away from the megacaps, with the Russell 2000 .RUT rising 1.3% to partially recoup some of Wednesday's losses.
Megacap stocks recovered from a shaky start to trade higherat mid-afternoon but many slippedlater, with Meta Platforms META.O Microsoft MSFT.O and Nvidia NVDA.O ending between 1.7% and 2.4% down.
Alphabet's GOOGL.O shares fell for a second straight day, dipping 3.1% to its lowest close since May 6, but Tesla TSLA.O rose. Lackluster earnings from the Google parent and the electric vehicle maker had pummeled the so-called Magnificent Seven group of tech stocks on Wednesday, prompting the Nasdaq .IXIC and S&P 500 .SPX to log their worst day since 2022.
The Cboe Volatility Index .VIX, known as Wall Street's fear gauge, extended its recent gains to close at 18.46, a fresh 14-week high.
"I think the market is kind of lurching," said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management. "The concern had been building and yesterday was a bit of a crescendo of that concern, but some of that has been alleviated today."
While investors are still trying to grapple with Wednesday's disappointing earnings reports, and political and economic uncertainty, Ma said ultimately recent data shows a resilient U.S. economy.
Thursday's GDPreport showed the U.S. economy expanded 2.8% in the second quarter versus an estimate of 2%. Inflation subsided, leaving expectations of a September Federal Reserve interest rate cut intact.
All eyes are now on Friday's personal consumption expenditures price data to confirm bets of an early start to Fed rate cuts.
While heavyweight stocks have powered the market to all-time highs this year, Wednesday's sell-off reinforced fears that these stocks might be over-stretched and are in for more turbulence.
This concern has driven value investors, speeding up their rotation into smaller-cap stocks and other sectors outside megacap technology.
The S&P Small Cap 600 .SPCY rose 1.4% on Thursday.
The S&P 500 .SPX lost 27.91 points, or 0.51%, at 5,399.22 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC fell 160.69 points, or 0.93%, to 17,181.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 81.20 points, or 0.20%, to 39,935.07.
Among earnings-driven moves, IBM IBM.N shares jumped 4.3%, also boosting the blue-chip Dow, after the tech company beat estimates for second-quarter revenue and raised the annual growth forecast for its software business.
American Airlines AAL.O rose 4.2% aftercutting its annual profit forecast. Southwest Airlines LUV.N climbed 5.5% aftersaying it would implement changes including ending open seating and offering seats with extra legroom.
Advances by airlines and logistics firms, withOld Dominion ODFL.O up 5.7% andJ B Hunt JBHT.O rising 4.3%, helped the Dow Jones Transportation Average .DJT gain 1.3%.
Ford F.N slumped 18.4% afterthe automaker's second-quarter adjusted profit missed estimates by a wide margin. Edwards Lifesciences EW.N tumbled 31.3% afterit missed second-quarter revenue estimates.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 13.23 billion shares, compared with the 11.60 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
S&P500 breaks calm streak with 2%+ drop https://tmsnrt.rs/3A8anwg
Reporting by Ankika Biswas, Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Medha Singh in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Pooja Desai and Richard Chang
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