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* Analog Devices rises on $21 bln deal to buy rival Maxim
* Pepsi gains as results beat on higher demand for snacks
* Pfizer, BioNTech get 'fast track' status for vaccine
candidates
(Updates with close)
By Noel Randewich
July 13 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended lower on
Monday, pulled down by Amazon, Microsoft and other recent
big-name leaders of Wall Street's recent rally.
The S&P 500 dipped after briefly touching its highest level
since Feb. 25. The index has rebounded over 40% since mid-March,
even as COVID-19 infections rose rapidly in Arizona, California
and Texas and about 35 other states.
Stocks that outperformed in recent months, including Amazon
AMZN.O , Microsoft MSFT.O , Nvidia NVDA.O and Facebook
FB.O , ended sharply lower after gaining earlier in the day.
"The rally's been driven by a handful of names. You've had
headlines about COVID and layoffs and the economy. It's finally
caught up with these names everybody's been hiding in," said
Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in
Stamford, Connecticut.
Shares of German biotech firm BioNTech BNTX.O jumped and
Pfizer Inc PFE.N also climbed as two of their experimental
coronavirus vaccines received the U.S. FDA's "fast track"
designation. Merger news also perked up investors as chipmaker Analog
Devices Inc ADI.O announced a $21 billion deal to buy rival
Maxim Integrated Products Inc MXIM.O , sending its stock
sharply higher. Analog shares fell. PepsiCo Inc PEP.O gained after it said it benefited from a
surge in at-home consumption of salty snacks such as Fritos and
Cheetos during lockdowns. Investors are bracing for what could be the sharpest drop in
quarterly earnings for S&P 500 firms since the financial crisis,
according to IBES Refinitiv data. Results from big banks will be
in focus this week.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
11.04 points, or 0.04%, to 26,086.34, the S&P 500 .SPX lost
29.69 points, or 0.93%, to 3,155.35 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 226.60 points, or 2.13%, to 10,390.84.
Recent economic data has strengthened belief that the
stimulus-pumped U.S. economy is on the road to recovery, helping
investors look past a recent spike in U.S. infections.
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