Tech, healthcare lead stock rally
Investors shrugged off geopolitical jitters Monday, sending U.S. stocks broadly higher and extending the market’s gains from last week.
Technology companies, healthcare stocks and industrial firms accounted for much of the rally as traders focused on company earnings and deal news. Oil prices fell after surging last week ahead of the U.S.-led missile attack on Syria’s chemical weapons program.
“It’s some relief from the global political situation over the weekend,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird. “The other thing is we’ve had over the last few weeks particularly this buildup in pessimism, and that provided some opportunity for stocks to rally once the news of this event was out of the way.”
The market was in rally mode from the start of trading Monday, despite a sell-off among major indexes in Europe. Investors seemed to put aside concerns over the geopolitical tensions that led to Friday night’s missile attack by the United States, Britain and France on Syria’s chemical weapons program.
The market shifted its focus to corporate America. Wall Street is forecasting the strongest growth in seven years for S&P 500 companies, and the hope has been that healthy profit reports will steady the market after a rough couple of months. Over the long term, stock prices tend to track the progress of corporate profits.
Bank of America got a post-earnings boost, rising 0.4% to $29.93 after the lender posted a larger profit, helped by corporate tax cuts and rising interest rates.
Carl Icahn’s company struck a roughly $1.85-billion deal that would fuse the gambling and hotel operations of Tropicana Entertainment to Eldorado Resorts. Tropicana shares soared 26.8% to $69.75. Eldorado jumped 16.3% to $41.50.
Truck and engine maker Navistar International rose 9.9% to $40.71 after Reuters reported that Volkswagen might buy the company.
Oil prices, which jumped last week on fears over an escalation of strife in the Middle East, fell back Monday. Benchmark U.S. crude declined 1.7% to $66.22 a barrel. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, slid 1.6% to $71.42 a barrel.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 2.83%.
The dollar fell to 107.10 yen from 107.41 yen. The euro rose to $1.2381 from $1.2334.
Gold rose $2.80 to $1,350.70 an ounce. Silver rose 2 cents to $16.68 an ounce. Copper rose 2 cents to $3.10 a pound.
Heating oil fell 3 cents to $2.07 a gallon. Wholesale gasoline fell 3 cents to $2.04 a gallon. Natural gas rose 2 cents to $2.75 per 1,000 cubic feet.