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Spirit Aero up following report of Boeing ( BA ) nearing buyout

deal

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Sarepta surges on expanded use of gene therapy

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Indexes mixed: Dow up, S&P down, Nasdaq down

(As of 4:00 pm EDT)

By Echo Wang

June 21 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed

marginally lower on Friday, weighed down by a decline in Nvidia ( NVDA )

shares for a second straight day, which dragged down the

technology sector.

Technology was the biggest loser among the 11

major S&P 500 sectors, weighed by Nvidia ( NVDA ), while communication

services led the gain.

"It's Nvidia's ( NVDA ) game, and the rest of us are just pretending

to be here," said Michael Green, chief strategist at Simplify

Asset Management in Philadelphia.

"Basically all the activity is now concentrated in Nvidia ( NVDA )

call options," he added. "Seven million option contracts Nvidia ( NVDA )

have traded. That's something in the neighborhood of three or

four times the quantity of contract volume that would have

traded for the market in total five years ago."

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 5.52

points, or 0.10%, to end at 5,467.65 points, while the Nasdaq

Composite lost 28.37 points, or 0.16%, to 17,693.22. The

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 27.48 points, or 0.07%,

to 39,162.24.

Shares of megacaps Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet,

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Apple ( AAPL ) rose.

"We've had a very strong run, especially in the S&P over

the last couple weeks. So not surprised to see things kind of

take a pause and settle down," Zachary Hill, head of portfolio

management at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Friday's trading could be more volatile than usual due to

triple witching, the simultaneous expiration of stock options,

stock index options, and stock index futures.

U.S. business activity reached a 26-month high in June amid

a rebound in employment, while easing price pressures suggested

the recent inflation slowdown may continue.

Flash services PMI increased to 55.1 this month, above

expectations of 53.7, while manufacturing PMI edged up to 51.7,

compared with expectations of a dip to 51.

May home sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of

4.11 million units versus expectations of 4.10 million units.

Money markets are still pricing in a 58% chance of a

25-basis point rate cut in September, and still expect about two

rate cuts this year, according to LSEG's FedWatch data.

AI chip firm Nvidia ( NVDA ) dropped, while semiconductor

stocks Qualcomm ( QCOM ), Broadcom ( AVGO ) and Micron

Technology ( MU ) also declined.

Wall Street's bumper gains since the final leg of 2023 have

been primarily driven by the likes of Nvidia ( NVDA ) and a handful of

other heavily weighted stocks linked to artificial intelligence.

Analysts, however, have raised concerns whether the strong

increase in their valuations is sustainable.

Robot

Shares of Spirit AeroSystems ( SPR ) rose following a

Reuters report that Boeing ( BA ) is nearing a deal to buy back

the airplane parts supplier after months of talks.

Sarepta Therapeutics ( SRPT ) soared after the U.S. FDA

allowed expanded use of the company's gene therapy for patients

with Duchenne muscular dystrophy aged four and older.