U.S. indexes hit new highs
Apple and other bigname technology stocks got back to their winning ways Monday and helped drive U.S. indexes once again to record heights.
Tech heavyweights — which were among the stock market's biggest stars until a recent drop — led the way. Apple jumped 2.9% to $146.34 for its second-best day of the year. Google's parent, Alphabet, rose 1.7% to $975.22. Altogether, tech stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.7%, the largest gain among the index’s 11 sectors.
It's just the latest example of investors steeling themselves and “buying the dip.” Every time the stock market has shown any weakness in the last eight years, it has proved to be a good time to buy. That has given investors the habit of pouncing whenever there’s a drop.
“It's concerning, but I don't see what breaks it at this point,” said Nate Thooft, senior portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management. “For the time being, investors are thinking, ‘We can't afford not to be in this market.’ ”
Thooft expects stocks to continue rising, even with prices high, because bonds look less attractive. Furthermore, profit growth is improving for companies, which helps to justify their stock price gains.
PerkinElmer, which sells testing equipment and scientific instruments, was Monday’s biggest gainer in the S&P 500. It jumped 6.5% to $67.73 after it agreed to buy Euroimmun Medical Laboratory Diagnostics of Germany for $1.3 billion.
Energy firm EQT sank 9% to $53.51, the biggest drop in the index, after agreeing to buy Rice Energy for $6.7 billion in cash and stock. Rice surged 24.8% to $24.57.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International jumped 6.4% to $13.47 after the beleaguered drugmaker said hedge-fund manager John Paulson, its largest shareholder, will join its board.
Hain Celestial Group fell 2% to $33.24 after the Wall Street Journal reported that the organic food company, which hasn't released financial results for more than a year, risks being delisted from the Nasdaq.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.18% from 2.15%.
The dollar rose to 111.54 yen from 110.84 yen. The euro fell to $1.1147 from $1.1195.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 54 cents to settle at $44.43 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 46 cents to $46.91 a barrel.
Natural gas fell 14 cents to $2.89 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil fell 2 cents to $1.41 a gallon. Wholesale gasoline held steady at $1.45 a gallon.
Gold fell $9.80 to settle at $1,246.70 an ounce, silver fell 16 cents to $16.50 an ounce and copper rose 3 cents to $2.59 a pound.