Advertisement

Stocks climb again to new all-time highs

A Wall Street sign in New York.
A Wall Street sign in New York.
(Mark Lennihan / Associated Press)
Share

Stocks around the world continued their upward march Monday, and U.S. indexes again hit new highs.

Strong gains for Citigroup and other financial stocks helped the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rise 12.15 points, or 0.5%, to 2,328.25. It’s the third straight day that the index has set a record. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 142.79, or 0.7%, to 20,412.16. The Nasdaq composite climbed 29.83, or 0.5%, to 5,763.96. Earlier in the day, markets rose across Europe and Asia.

Stocks have resumed their rally in recent days after stalling for a couple of weeks. Stronger-than-expected profit reports from companies, continued improvement in the U.S. economy and expectations for business-friendly policies from Washington have helped propel the market. With no major economic reports or other big news Monday, stocks continued to follow the path of least resistance, analysts said.

Advertisement

“The market’s got such good momentum now that it’s going to continue until something slows it down,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. “There’s really not any negative catalyst right now.”

The S&P 500 has climbed five days in a row and is up 8.8% since President Trump won the November election.

Companies whose profits are most dependent on the strength of the economy were some of Monday’s biggest gainers. Financial stocks in the S&P 500 rose 1.1%, the biggest gain among the 11 sectors that make up the index. Industrials rose 1%. Roughly three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

The biggest stock in the S&P 500, Apple, rose 0.9% to $133.29, a record closing high. The iPhone maker’s performance carries extra weight for many 401(k) accounts because of its status as the biggest publicly traded company in the world. It alone accounts for about 3.5% of S&P 500 index fund investments.

Chemical company Chemours leaped 14.3% to $32.14 after it announced an agreement with DuPont to jointly pay $670.7 million to settle roughly 3,500 personal-injury claims related to the release of perfluorooctanoic acid from a West Virginia plant. DuPont rose 1.3% to $77.82.

Zeltiq Aesthetics jumped 13.2% to $55.93 after Allergan said it would buy the company, whose CoolSculpting system helps people reduce bulges of fat. Allergan, which sells Botox, agreed to pay $56.50 per share for Zeltiq.

Advertisement

The only sector in the S&P 500 to fall Monday was telecoms, which sank on worries that more pricing wars may be on the way.

Verizon unveiled an unlimited-data plan for its customers, and its stock dropped 0.9% to $48.55. Competitors fell more. AT&T slid 1.8% to $40.65, and Sprint went down 1.3% to $8.84.

Several upcoming events could shift the market’s momentum. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen will offer testimony on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and Wednesday to update lawmakers on monetary policy. Most investors expect the central bank to keep raising interest rates this year, though at a modest pace.

The government will also offer updates on the state of inflation on both the consumer and the wholesale levels. Many investors expect inflation to rise due to policies proposed by Trump and congressional Republicans, though the bond market doesn’t seem to be forecasting a runaway increase.

Treasury yields have been on an upward trend since the November election, in part because of those expectations for higher inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.43% on Monday from 2.41% late Friday. Two-year and 30-year Treasury yields also rose.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 93 cents, or 1.7%, to $52.93 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell $1.11, or 2%, to $55.59 a barrel.

Advertisement

Natural gas fell 9 cents, or 3%, to $2.94 per 1,000 cubic feet. Wholesale gasoline fell 5 cents, or 2.8%, to $1.54 a gallon. Heating oil fell 4 cents, or 2.3%, to $1.63 a gallon.

Gold fell $10.10 to $1,225.80 an ounce. Silver fell 11 cents to $17.82 an ounce. Copper rose 1.5 cents to $2.78 a pound.

The dollar rose to 113.62 yen from 113.41 yen, and the British pound rose to $1.2529 from $1.2479.

Stocks climbed in other markets around the world. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.4%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.6% and South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.2%. In Europe, the French CAC 40 index jumped 1.2%, Germany’s DAX climbed 0.9% and the British FTSE 100 rose 0.3%.

ALSO

How to track down an old retirement account

Advertisement

Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats target Labor nominee Andrew Puzder

FHA home loans were getting cheaper until Trump suspended a rate cut. Now, what comes next?


UPDATES:

4 p.m.: This article was updated with closing prices, context and analyst comment.

1:25 p.m.: This article was updated with the close of markets.

7:40 a.m.: This article was updated with market prices and context.

This article was originally published at 7:05 a.m.

Advertisement