US STOCKS-Nasdaq declines as tech sell-off resumes; cyclical stocks rise

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* Growth stocks fall for seventh straight day
* Financial sector hits record high
* Tesla up as Ark Invest buys $171 mln more shares
* Dow up 0.35%, S&P up 0.07%, Nasdaq down 0.61%

(Updates to open)
By Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal
Feb 24 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq index fell in choppy trading
on Wednesday as investors continued to sell technology-related
stocks, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones were supported by
cyclical shares on hopes of a quicker economic recovery.
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O , Amazon.com
Inc AMZN.O and Apple Inc AAPL.O were down between 0.6% and
1.7% after rising in premarket trading.
"You have the normal concern ... investors who want to
protect profits on some of these (growth) stocks, and the
investors who were looking for a pullback to re-enter," said
Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon,
New Jersey.
"As these two sides participate in the market, you're
getting these big swings back and forth, buyers on the dip and
sellers when it gets back to higher levels."
Value-oriented stocks have enjoyed a bit of a bounce
recently, with the S&P 500 Value index .IVX rising for the
fourth straight day.
The S&P 500 financial sector .SPSY added 0.9% to hit a
record high, while other cyclical sectors including industrials
.SPLRCI , energy .SPNY and materials .SPLRCM also rose.
Markets were reassured earlier by comments from Federal
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who on Tuesday pushed back on
suggestions that loose monetary policy risked unleashing
inflation. The S&P 500 Growth index .IGX , housing most of the
high-flying technology-related stocks, fell more than 6% in the
last six days on valuation concerns as yields on the U.S.
ten-year Treasury notes remained elevated.
Tech stocks are particularly sensitive to rising yields as
their value rests heavily on future earnings, which are
discounted more deeply when bond returns go up.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O gained 0.6% after star investor Cathie
Wood's Ark Invest fund bought a further $171 million worth of
the company's shares in the wake of a sharp fall in the
electric-car maker's stock. At 10:46 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 109.64 points, or 0.35%, at 31,646.99, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 2.79 points, or 0.07%, at 3,884.16, and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was down 82.46 points, or 0.61%, at 13,382.74.
However, all the three main indexes were tracking strong
monthly gains, with the Dow and the S&P 500 set for their best
month since November.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.12-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.38-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 64 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 140 new highs and 2 new lows.