Tuesday's early trade: Intel helps Wall St shrug off Italy woes, sends Dow to record

US stocks shrugged off a weak start to climb higher on Tuesday, as Intel boosted technology stocks and pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record high. Intel jumped 5.1 percent, but analysts could not find a new trigger, with some suggesting that the stock was reviving Friday's rally after the chipmaker assuaged concerns over its business.
The Philadelphia SE semiconductor index climbed 1.20 percent, its strongest gain in what is set to be a four-day rally, while technology stocks rose 0.48 percent. Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, compared with only three gainers earlier in the session. The materials index was up 0.53 percent, while the communication services index rose 0.19 percent.
"We're having a relatively benign market on either side of the spectrum, but specifically in terms of rotation we're having a large-cap play today and you are seeing small caps down modestly," said Ryan Larson, head of US equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management in Chicago.
At 12:31 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.49 percent, at 26,780.56, easing after hitting a record high of 26,793.35. The S&P 500 was up 0.16 percent, at 2,929.15, while the Nasdaq was little changed at 8,041.40. But, underscoring the influence of large-cap stocks, declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.29-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.71-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The smallcap Russell 2000 index was off 0.59 percent. Smaller names had been seen as more immune to trade pressures and had dropped on Monday after the NAFTA deal was salvaged. Also holding on to their losses were financials, which shed 0.3 percent as US lenders followed their Italian peers lower after a senior lawmaker in one of Italy's ruling parties said most of the country's problems would be resolved if it readopted a national currency.