Energy companies lead stocks’ increase
U.S. stock indexes edged higher in afternoon trading Monday, riding the momentum from a solid rally last week.
Energy stocks led the gainers as crude oil prices rose. Financial and consumer goods stocks also helped lift the market. Those gains outweighed losses in the communications and health care sectors.
Stocks are coming off a strong week in which the S&P 500 resumed its torrid start to the year after a fiveday stumble. The index is back to within 3.7 percent of its record high, set in September, after clawing back all of its terrifying drop from December.
One key to the recent rally has been the belief that the Federal Reserve will slow its pace of increases for interest rates. The worry in December was that the central bank would raise rates too fast in the face of a slowing global economy and choke off growth. The Fed will meet to discuss interest-rate policy this week, with an announcement scheduled for Wednesday, but economists expect it to announce no change to rates.
Politicians in London, meanwhile, continued to haggle about the United Kingdom’s pending departure from the European Union, which could have harmful effects for global trade. The Bank of England will announce its decision on interest rates later this week as well.
The quote: “In many ways, the market is in limbo,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. “And in the meantime, (investors) are waiting for some sort of agreement on the trade talks as well as the Fed.”
Keeping score: The S&P 500 was up 0.2 percent as of 2:41 p.m. Central time. It’s up 12.8 percent for 2019 so far, which is a bigger gain than it’s had in four of the past five full years.
The Nasdaq composite edged up 0.2 percent, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks rose 0.4 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was essentially flat, up 11 points, or 0.1 percent, at 25,869.
Major stock indexes in Europe finished mostly higher.
Spurting higher: Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 1 percent to $59.09 a barrel, the first time it ended above $59 since November. Other energy futures also finished higher, which helped lift shares across the energy sector.
National Oilwell Varco jumped 6.1 percent, Halliburton rose 3.3 percent and Marathon Petroleum climbed 2.2 percent.
Pay me now: As more transactions move online, the payment processing industry continues to consolidate.
Fidelity National Information Services said Monday that it will buy Worldpay for about $35 billion in stock and cash. Including Worldpay’s debt, Fidelity valued the dal at $43 billion.
Worldpay’s U.S.-listed shares jumped 9.8 percent. Fidelity, also called FIS, slipped 0.8 percent.