US stocks have closed mixed as the White House moved to convene meetings with leading members of congress to seek an end to economic policy paralysis in Washington.
The S&P 500 and Dow were slightly higher today, but the sell-off in tech stocks continued unabated from Tuesday, when the Nasdaq plunged 2 per cent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 26.45 points (0.18 per cent) at 14,802.98.
The broad-based S&P 500 added a bare 0.95 (0.06 per cent) at 1,656.40, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 17.06 (0.46 per cent) at 3,677.78.
Markets took in stride comments by President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, Fed veteran Janet Yellen, who said she would keep policy focused on boosting growth.
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“More needs to be done to strengthen the recovery, particularly for those hardest hit by the Great Recession,” she said as she accepted Obama’s nomination.
Some tech stocks that have prospered in 2013 pushed lower. Netflix dropped 4.6 per cent, Amazon slid 1.7 per cent and Facebook dipped 0.8 per cent.
Apple advanced 1.2 per cent after announcing that its latest line of iPhone models will be launched in more than 50 new markets by November 1.
The Australian dollar is slightly higher.
Early Thursday, the local unit was trading at 94.46 US cents, up from 94.33 cents on Wednesday.
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