Apple, Amazon Climb on Holiday Hopes

Shares of Apple and Amazon dodged a downtrend on Monday, climbing on hopes for a strong holiday shopping season.

Apple shares gained half a percent to a new all-time high after analysts noted strong weekend demand for the company’s iPod and Mac products. The early strength caused some analysts to raise fourth-quarter iPod sales estimates to as high as 11 million units, while others wondered if Apple will be able to meet all the demand.

Amazon was another holiday sales gainer, climbing 0.6% on “Cyber Monday,” the start of the seasonal online shopping boom.

The broader market pulled back Monday to end a six-day winning streak. Merck led the way lower on a restructuring plan, and homebuilders lost ground on a drop in existing home sales.

The Nasdaq lost 23 to 2239, the S&P 500 fell 10 to 1257, and the Dow lost 40 to 10,890. Volume rose to 1.98 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.59 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 21-11 on the NYSE, and 21-9 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 73% on the NYSE, and 70% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 131-97 on the NYSE, and 115-50 on the Nasdaq.

Yahoo and Google lost ground on valuation comments by Legg Mason.

Conexant jumped 6% on a deal with LG Electronics.

NetEase fell 4% on a new CEO.

Novellus pulled back 2% ahead of its mid-quarter update late Tuesday.