Nasdaq Composite Closes at Another Record
11 January 2017 - 8:42AM
Dow Jones News
By Mike Bird and Akane Otani
Financial shares rose Tuesday while energy and dividend-paying
shares fell, leaving the S&P 500 flat.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 32 points, or 0.2%, to
19856, after rising within 50 points of the never-before-reached
20000 level earlier in the session. The S&P 500 was flat, and
the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.4%, a fresh record.
The Dow industrials have risen more than 8% since Election Day,
as investors betting on fiscal stimulus and tax cuts under
President-elect Donald Trump scooped up shares of financial and
industrial companies while largely selling government bonds. Many
analysts and investors believe stocks will continue climbing
throughout the year, bolstered by a strengthening economy.
"Sentiment has clearly improved with the pro-growth Washington
agenda," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank
Wealth Management, who expects the S&P 500 to rise to 2400 by
the end of the year. The index closed at 2268.90 Monday.
Still, with many of the potential policies "still very much a
work in progress," corporate earnings will be a key driver of
stocks in the coming weeks, Mr. Sandven added.
On Tuesday, energy stocks lagged other sectors, as U.S. crude
oil fell 2.2% to $50.82 a barrel. Exxon Mobil and Chevron fell more
than 0.5% each, weighing on the Dow industrials.
Dividend-heavy sectors -- which have been among the biggest
laggards in the postelection rally -- pulled back, too. Shares of
utilities slipped 0.3%.
Meanwhile, financials and industrials led gains. The S&P 500
financials sector rose 0.4%, and the industrials sector added 0.3%,
lifted by a surge in airline stocks. Alaska Air Group gained 5.2%,
while United Continental Holdings and Delta Air Lines gained more
than 2% apiece.
Government bonds weakened slightly. The yield on the 10-year
U.S. Treasury note was at 2.379%, compared with 2.377% Monday,
according to Tradeweb. Yields rise as bond prices fall.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.1%. The U.K.'s FTSE
100 added 0.5%, notching its ninth consecutive record. The index
tends to rise as sterling falls, since the companies listed on the
index make most of their revenue abroad.
Earlier, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.8%, the Shanghai
Composite Index fell 0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed up 0.8%
in its fourth consecutive session of gains.
Note to readers: We removed the sentence saying that if the FTSE
100 closed at another high Tuesday, it would be its longest streak
of records since the nine days ending Jan. 16, 1987, while we work
to verify the stat.
Write to Mike Bird at Mike.Bird@wsj.com and Akane Otani at
akane.otani@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 10, 2017 16:27 ET (21:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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