■ Stocks closed broadly higher following big job gains in March. 6B

S&P 500 index rises to an all-time high

Stocks on Wall Street notched broad gains Monday as investors welcomed more signs that the economy is on the path to recovery.

The S&P 500 rose 1.4 percent to an all-time high after closing above the 4,000-point mark for the first time last Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also set a record high, as the market extended its recent run of gains. Technology companies powered much of the rally, which was a reaction to encouraging data on the economy.

The U.S. government reported last week that employers went on a hiring spree in March, adding 916,000 jobs, the most since August. Traders had a delayed reaction to the encouraging jobs report, which was released on Friday when stock trading was closed. Investors were further encouraged by a report Monday showing that the services sector recorded record growth in March as orders, hiring and prices surged.

Both employment and the services

for leisure travel in Las Vegas and vacation destinations across the industry, particularly around peak travel times like spring break,” Hertz spokeswoman Lauren Luster said Monday. “This is encouraging, given where the industry was during this time a year ago, and we’re happy to help travelers return to the road safely.”

The company, which includes Dollar and Thrifty rental car brands under the Hertz umbrella, said it is working with its automotive partners to add new vehicles to its fleets as quickly as possible while moving its cars to areas with highest demand.

“Because of the spike in demand in some cities and regions and tighter fleets across the car rental industry, availability may be more limited,” Luster said. “We anticipate strong demand for car rental to last several months and throughout the summer.”

‘Not unique to Las Vegas’

At Mccarran International Airport, shuttle services that pick up airline passengers from the terminal to the Rent-a-car Center have seen levels “approaching what we had seen in 2019,” airport spokesman Joe Rajchel said.

The volume increase for the shuttle service to the Mccarran car rental center is, anecdotally, one strong sign that travel is coming back. Rajchel said many other airports across the U.S. are having similar demand spikes for car rentals.

“We’re seeing a shortage, but it’s not unique to Las Vegas. Other cities are experiencing this as well,” he said.

Getting an Uber or a Lyft isn’t any easier either with longer wait times.

Jonathan Weinberg, CEO and founder of car rental booking and tracking website Autoslash.com, said tourism hot spots such as Hawaii, Florida, Denver, Phoenix and Las Vegas have been seeing sellouts over the past few weeks. The U.S. rental car shortage, he said, began around Presidents Day and Valentine’s Day.

That data is similar to what other companies and organizations saw. According to data from AAA Nevada, Las Vegas was the top destination for rental car bookings last month in the region, followed by Phoenix, Oakland, San Jose and Kahului, Honolulu.

AAA Nevada spokesman Sergio Avila said he’s been talking to the association’s travel agents about the pent-up demand for car rentals.

“They tell me they’re seeing fewer locations for rental car pickup and that some of these locations have more restrictive hours,” he said.

Weinberg said it was, at first, quite puzzling.

“We saw that cars were getting sold out all over the place over that three-day weekend and we weren’t quite sure what was going on,” he said. “As it turns out, there was just an overwhelming amount of demand. That was sort of the first holiday weekend where people were getting vaccinated in large numbers and they were starting to feel more comfortable traveling. And ever since, rental car companies just didn’t have enough vehicles to fill that demand for various reasons.”

Weinberg said many companies aren’t sure how to price rentals with the demand. Last-minute rentals, if inventory is even available, can cost a couple of hundred dollars a day.

Tourism

The car rental shortage comes as conventions and tourism are starting to rebound in Las Vegas.

Weinberg said some travelers have canceled vacation trips when car rentals prices were too high or there was no inventory available.

“We’re already seeing this happen,” he said. “If you didn’t plan ahead, then yes, you might end up paying a little bit more. But what we’re seeing now is that people would be paying several hundred dollars a day where your rental car is more than your flight and/or hotel or you can’t even get one at any price.”

And with airlines offering generous rescheduling policies, Weinberg said travelers could push their vacation plans to a later date.

He said that with some travelers booking car rentals at the last minute it’s adding more strain on companies that are trying to manage their inventory. He also added that travelers booking one to three weeks ahead of their pickup date are “the ones that are bearing the brunt of the pain.”