Energy firms help extend stock gains
U.S. stock indexes finished modestly higher Monday, extending the gains from the market’s rally last week.
Energy companies notched the biggest increases after the price of U.S. crude oil closed above $59 a barrel for the first time since November. Smaller-company stocks fared better than the rest of the market.
Financial, consumer goods and technology stocks accounted for much of the gains. Goldman Sachs rose 2.1%, Advance Auto Parts climbed 4.4%, and Microsoft ticked up 1.4%. That outweighed losses by communications and healthcare companies. Facebook slid 3.3%. Boston Scientific dropped 5.6%.
Stocks were riding the momentum from last week, when the Standard & Poor’s 500 index resumed its torrid start to the year following a five-day stumble. The index is back to within 3.5% of its record high, set in September, after clawing back from its dizzying December drop.
Investors are still waiting for a resolution of the costly U.S.-China trade war. After weeks of talks, it’s not clear how close the two sides are to reaching an agreement. A meeting between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to formalize a deal might be pushed back to June, according to some news reports.
Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate policy update, set for Wednesday.
“In many ways, the market is in limbo,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.
The S&P 500 rose 10.46 points, or 0.4%, to 2,832.94. The benchmark index is now up 13% for 2019 so far, which is a bigger gain than it’s had in four of the last five full years.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 65.23 points, or 0.3%, to 25,914.10. The Nasdaq composite rose 25.95 points, or 0.3%, to 7,714.48. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks climbed 10.39 points, or 0.7%, to 1,563.93.
U.S. stocks have had a strong showing this year, with all the major indexes showing a gain of at least 11%.
One key factor in the recent rally has been the belief that the Fed will slow its pace of interest rate increases. 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, but economists expect it to announce no change to rates.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 1% to settle at $59.09 a barrel. Brent crude rose 0.6% to $67.54 a barrel.
Energy stocks got a boost from the pickup in oil prices. National Oilwell Varco jumped 6.2%, Halliburton gained 3.2%, and Marathon Petroleum rose 2.7%.