STOCKS CLOSE AT RECORD HIGH
The S&P 500 index closed at an all-time high Monday, extending a recent string of gains in what’s mostly been a solid month for the market.
The benchmark index closed at 3,039.42, around 14 points above its previous record set on July 26. The S&P 500 notched its latest milestone after weeks of hovering just below its prior high.
Investors have been balancing worries over the impact that the costly trade war between the U.S. and China is having on corporate profits and the global economy against renewed optimism that negotiations that got underway this month could lead to some kind of resolution in the conflict.
“U.S.-China is not going away any time soon,” said Ben Phillips, chief investment officer of EventShares. “The market’s sentiment tends to swing from overly fearful to overly exuberant, and we’re probably starting to swing a little to the exuberant side right now. There are still a lot of risks out there.”
Monday’s rally came at the beginning of a busy week of corporate earnings and economic reports and with investors expecting another interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Coming into this week, investors have been encouraged as most of the companies that have reported quarterly results the past couple of weeks that beat Wall Street analysts’ forecasts for earnings growth.
“Last week’s overall momentum was just kind of up, up, up,” Phillips said. “People are fully pricing in the Fed cutting again this week. There’s optimism that there’s going to be continued easy liquidity, or easy money, and that gets people excited.”
“October 28 is historically the best day of the year for stocks,” according to Ryan Detrick, a strategist for LPL Financial.
The Dow industrials gained 132.66 points, or 0.5%, to 27,090.72. The Dow is still about 1% below its record set on July 15.