Global stocks rise as Wall St breaks new records

NEW YORK: US stock indexes ticked higher in early trading yesterday and tacked on a bit more to their records set a day earlier. Trading was again very quiet, with only modest moves for bond yields, commodities and other markets. Stock markets were closed in Germany, China and South Korea for holidays.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up by 1 point to 2,530, as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 28, or 0.1 percent, to 22,588, and the Nasdaq composite rose 10, or 0.2 percent, to 6,529. The Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks inched down by less than a point to 1,509. All four indexes set a record on Monday after a reading on US manufacturing growth hit its highest level in 13 years.

Homebuilder Lennar jumped to one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after it reported stronger sales and earnings for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Interest rates remain relatively low, and the strengthening job market is helping to convince more people to buy homes. Lennar rose $1.72, or 3.3 percent, to $54.54.

General Motors and Ford Motor were also among the market’s leaders after each reported strong sales growth in the United States for last month. GM climbed $1.03, or 2.4 percent, to $43.18, and Ford gained 21 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $12.31.

Tesla fell after the car company said production bottlenecks meant fewer of its Model 3 cars are coming off the line than expected. The production miss in the third quarter raises questions about whether Tesla will be able to meet future targets for its much-anticipated car. Tesla fell $6.38, or 1.9 percent, to $335.15.

“The global markets trudge on, searching for opportunities, realizing these tragedies are becoming all too commonplace,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA. “And as cynical as that may seem, that is the reality we’ve come to accept,” he said. US manufacturing activity rose to its highest level in 13 years last month, making investors bullish about the country’s upcoming third-quarter earnings season. Traders noted that President Donald Trump’s market-friendly tax reform proposals, including a plan to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, have also buoyed the mood of investors.

US crude slides Benchmark US crude fell 14 cents to $50.44 per barrel. That follows a $1.09-per-barrel slide on Monday as worries mount that the world has more than oil available than it needs. Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, rose 10 cents to $56.22 a barrel. Bonds prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.34 percent. The two-year yield fell to 1.47 percent from 1.49 percent, and the 30-year yield inched up to 2.88 percent from 2.87 percent.

European stock markets edged higher yesterday, underpinned by a firmer opening on Wall Street, as investors built on the new records reached the previous day, traders said.

After Asian stocks had risen strongly earlier, Europe modestly took up the baton, with London and Paris edging higher, while Frankfurt was shut for a German public holiday. Madrid meanwhile fell, but far less sharply than on Monday in the wake of a police crackdown on a banned Catalonia independence referendum. — Agencies