US equity indexes traded mixed in midday trading on Thursday amid a sell-off in technology, which hit the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, while shares of defense companies rose.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% to 23,445.1, and the S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1% to 6,919.5. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, rose 0.6% to 49,282.4.
All sectors except technology and health care rose, with consumer staples, energy, and consumer discretionary among the top gainers.
Out of 26 aviation and defense stocks with a market capitalization of more than $10 billion, all but five traded higher, according to data compiled by Finviz. Shares of defense contractors surged after President Donald Trump called for a 50% increase in the US military budget on Truth Social late Wednesday. Shares of Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Northrop Grumman (NOC) were up 4.5% and 3.2%, respectively.
In company news, Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) has become the world's second-most valuable publicly traded company with a market capitalization of $3.941 trillion, overtaking Apple's (AAPL) $3.804 trillion, based on intraday prices.
In economic news, US initial jobless claims rose to a level of 208,000 in the week ended Jan. 3 from an upwardly revised 200,000 level in the previous week, compared with expectations for an increase to 212,000 in a survey of analysts compiled by Bloomberg.
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