The S&P 500 ticked higher Monday, extending a gradual August rally that has pushed the benchmark to the cusp of a new high.
The broad-based index rose 0.3% in late-morning trading. It was recently hovering at 3383.25, just a few points below its record closing high from February, before the coronavirus pandemic ravaged financial markets. In recent days, the S&P 500 has repeatedly approached the record but stopped short of notching a new close.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7%.
The stock market has staged an extraordinary recovery from its March lows, driven by emergency stimulus efforts from Washington, a surge in big tech stocks and a torrent of individual investors piling into stocks.
Still, the pace of the advance has slowed in recent weeks as investors take stock of hurdles facing the economic recovery, stalled negotiations over a new stimulus package in Washington and tensions with China.
“We had this vibe that the bottom of the economic slump wasn’t quite as bad as people’s baseline forecast,” said Lyn Graham-Taylor, senior rates strategist at Rabobank. “But there’s also a feeling right now that the recovery is not going to be a quick ‘V’ shape. It’s going to be slower.”
Exceptionally thin holiday trading has also contributed to listless moves in stocks and bond yields, Mr. Graham-Taylor said. “It will get busy in a few weeks or so,” he added, citing the U.S. presidential election as one factor that will drive markets during the fall.
Just 3.24 billion shares in New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks changed hands on Friday, the lowest number since New Year’s Eve last year, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Health-care and consumer-staples stocks among were the best performers in the S&P 500 on Monday.
Novavax shares rose 4.6% after the biotech company said its experimental Covid-19 vaccine is starting the second phase of testing.
Shares of Tesla surged 7.4%, putting them on track for a new record close, after analysts at Wedbush Securities raised their price target for the electric-car maker. Tesla shares have more than quadrupled in value this year, making it one of the market’s biggest success stories in 2020.
Financial and energy stocks, which helped powered the S&P 500’s rally in recent weeks, turned lower on Monday.
Wells Fargo shares dropped 2.7% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed on Friday that it was reducing its holdings in the bank.
Bond and currency markets were quiet. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes ticked down to 0.678%, from 0.708% Friday. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of other currencies, slipped 0.1%.
In overseas markets, the Stoxx Europe 600 gauge edged up 0.3% as an advance in shares of basic-resource companies balanced a decline in travel and banking stocks.
Shares in Asia were broadly higher. The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 2.3% after the People’s Bank of China injected 700 billion yuan ($101 billion) into the banking system via its medium-term lending facility. The move could pave the way for lower benchmark lending rates.
But Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.8% after data showed the Japanese economy endured its worst contraction on record in the second quarter. Gross domestic product fell 7.8% in the three months through June compared with the previous quarter, the biggest decline since at least 1980.
Futures on Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.9% to $45.18 a barrel. Later this week, ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are set to review compliance with production cuts.
A pumpjack pumps oil in Signal Hill, Calif.
Photo: etienne laurent/ShutterstockWrite to Joe Wallace at Joe.Wallace@wsj.com and Alexander Osipovich at alexander.osipovich@dowjones.com
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
"stock" - Google News
August 17, 2020 at 10:34PM
https://ift.tt/2PVg7zo
U.S. Stocks Inch Higher as S&P 500 Nears Record - The Wall Street Journal
"stock" - Google News
https://ift.tt/37YwtPr
https://ift.tt/3b37xGF
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "U.S. Stocks Inch Higher as S&P 500 Nears Record - The Wall Street Journal"
Post a Comment