Tech, energy lift stocks to records
Big gains for technology and healthcare stocks helped the major U.S. indexes set records again Wednesday. Rising prices of crude and heating oil sent energy companies higher.
Chipmakers including Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices made big gains, though Intel skidded on news that its processors have a security flaw that could slow down computers. Energy company Scana jumped after Dominion Energy agreed to buy it.
Energy firms jumped for the second day in a row as oil prices, already at 2½-year highs, rose again. One reason is that after a pipeline bombing in Libya last month and ongoing antigovernment protests in Iran, investors are worried that oil supplies will get interrupted.
“Something that’s coming back into the market ... is this geopolitical risk premium,” said Nick Koutsoftas, portfolio manager at Cohen & Steers. Investors didn’t worry much about those risks in recent years because big stockpiles of oil had built up. Those stockpiles are shrinking now, which has lifted oil prices and made them more vulnerable to surprises.
Benchmark U.S. crude jumped $1.26, or 2.1%, to $61.63 a barrel. Brent crude climbed $1.27, or 1.8%, to $67.84 a barrel.
Heating oil and natural gas prices have climbed as severe cold gripped much of the U.S. Heating oil rose 3 cents to $2.09 a gallon, and it’s up 12 cents since Dec. 22. Natural gas slid 5 cents to $3.01 per 1,000 cubic feet; it’s up 34 cents over that time.
Wholesale gasoline rose 3 cents to $1.80 a gallon.
Technology companies rose further. Nvidia climbed 6.6% to $212.47. Alphabet advanced 1.7% to $1,091.52. IBM went up 2.8%, to $158.49.
Intel slid 3.4% to $45.26 in its highest trading volume in more than four years.
Scana soared 22.6% to $47.65 and Dominion Energy slid 3.9% to $77.19 after Dominion agreed to buy Scana for about $7.9 billion in stock.
Money transfer company MoneyGram International dived 9% to $12.11 after U.S. regulators blocked its sale to Ant Financial Services Group. It’s not clear why the regulators, who review proposed foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies on national security grounds, rejected the $1.2-billion deal. Ant Financial is linked to Alibaba and its chairman, Jack Ma.
Consumer products firm Spectrum Brands climbed 8.8% to $118.94 after it said it will try to sell its batteries and appliances businesses.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.45% from 2.46%.
Gold inched up $2.40 to $1,318.50 an ounce. Silver rose 6 cents to $17.27 an ounce. Copper fell 2 cents to $3.26 a pound.
The dollar rose to 112.52 yen from 112.27 yen. The euro fell to $1.2018 from $1.2055.