Several major stock indexes post all-time highs as bond market volatility fades.
Several major U.S. stock indexes hit all-time highs Thursday, as a recent stretch of volatile trading in the bond market continued to ease, keeping investors in a buying mood.
The S&P 500 index rose 1%, extending its winning streak to a third day as it scored a record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Russell 2000 index of smaller companies also hit alltime highs. The latest gains came as President Joe Biden signed a huge economic relief bill into law.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note inched up to 1.52% from 1.51% late Wednesday. That yield went as high as 1.60% late last week, but has been easing since then.
The S&P 500 rose 40.53 points to 3,939.34. The benchmark index is on track for its second straight weekly gain. The Dow added 188.57 points, or 0.6%, to 32,485.59, its second all-time high in a row.
The Nasdaq composite gained 329.84 points, or 2.5%, to 13,398.67. The tech-heavy index, which earlier in the week skidded more than 10% below its February peak, has regained some ground, but remains 4.9% below that all-time high.
The Russell 2000 index rose 52.86 points, or 2.3%, to 2,338.54.
Up until this week, bond yields have been steadily climbing higher as investors made big bets that trillions of dollars of coming government stimulus will result in strong economic growth later this year and potentially some amount of inflation.
Much of the uncertainty facing the market at the beginning of the year has faded, he said, as vaccine distribution ramped up and businesses reopened. The latest round of stimulus from Washington is also helping to lift uncertainty about the recovery.
Big Tech companies powered the latest tech sector rally. Apple rose 1.7%, Microsoft added 2% and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, gained 3.2%.
The biggest IPO in years rolled out Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange where Coupang, the South Korean equivalent of Amazon in the U.S., or Alibaba in China, began trading under the ticker “CPNG.” The stock soared 40.7%. It’s actually the largest initial public offering from an Asian company since Alibaba went public about seven years ago. And it’s the biggest in the U.S. since Uber raised more than $8 billion in 2019.
General Electric fell 7.4% for the biggest slide in the S&P 500 for the second straight day. The industrial titan announced it would wind down its GE Capital business and merge its jet leasing business with Ireland’s AerCap. GE is in the midst of a multi-year turnaround plan, but investors have been concerned GE has been selling off too many of its more profitable assets.