Tech leads S&P to slight gain

Technology shares led the S&P 500 marginally higher Wednesday, as a healthy forecast from IBM helped mitigate worries over the developing coronavirus outbreak.

Fred Katayama reports.

Investors brushed aside fears from China's virus outbreak Wednesday and bought tech shares led by IBM, helping nudge the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record highs.

The Nasdaq added a tenth percent.

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management chief investment officer Kevin Mahn: SOUNDBITE: HENNION & WALSH ASSET MANAGEMENT CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER KEVIN MAHN (ENGLISH) SAYING: "What we've seen today and what we've seen thus far in 2020 is just a continuation of 2019.

There's generally a fear of missing out on future upside potential among retail investors." Although the coronavirus spread to more Chinese cities, investors were assuaged by Beijing's stepped up efforts to curb the outbreak, which Chinese President Xi Jingping said was a top priority.

Back on Wall Street, IBM's rally helped lift tech stocks.

Big Blue's quarterly revenue growth and bullish full-year profit forecast topped Wall Street's targets.

Intel, Texas Instruments and other chip stocks rose after Dutch chip equipment maker ASML issued a strong forecast for sales and profit.

Tesla shares zoomed higher, pushing the electric car maker's market valuation past the $100 billion mark.

It became the first U.S. auto maker to achieve that milestone.

Netflix shares shed early gains to end lower.

The video streaming pioneer's quarterly subscriber growth topped estimates, but it warned of a tough first quarter.