Rising optimism around a “Phase 1” trade deal announced earlier this month between
Earlier on
Technology, industrial and health care stocks led the gains. Energy companies rose along with the price of crude oil. Communication services stocks, household goods makers and banks fell. Utilities took the heaviest losses as investors shifted money away from more defensive sectors.
Shares of
Homebuilders fell broadly after the
The market’s latest gains came on a day of mostly muted trading as investors kicked off a holiday-shortened week.
“Right now, a lot of people have gone home for the year and the path of least resistance is higher,” said
The S&P 500 inched up 2.79 points, or 0.1%, to 3,224.01. The Dow gained 96.44 points, or 0.3%, to 28,551.53.
The Nasdaq climbed 20.69 points, or 0.2%, to 8,945.65. The index, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, is on a nine-day winning streak.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks rose 2.24 points, or 0.1%, to 1,674.14.
Bond prices fell. The 10-year
Momentum for stocks has been clearly upward for months, driving the major stock indexes to record highs. The benchmark S&P 500 index has finished with a weekly gain in 10 out of the past 11 weeks.
Fears about a possible recession have also faded since the summer after the
Meanwhile, the stock market is nearing what’s historically been a positive stretch for stocks. The last five trading days of each year, plus the first two in the new year, have brought an average gain of 1.3% since 1950, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.
“Unfortunately, we've probably pulled forward some returns from 2020,” Samana said. “Next year it gets a little bit more tricky with elections probably becoming a bigger focus that will lead to some more volatility.”
Technology stocks continued to add to their blockbuster gains Monday. The sector, which is up 47.2% with less than two weeks to go in 2019, helped lift the market. Apple rose 1.6%.
Energy stocks notched the biggest gain, 1.1%. It is the worst-performing of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors and is up 7.8% for the year.
Traders hammered homebuilding stocks after the
“Housing was weak and that was probably a little bit due to rates slowly starting to creep back up,” Samana said.
The board said a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the company as it works to repair relationships with regulators and stakeholders. The Max was grounded worldwide in March after two crashes by 737s, killing a combined 346 people.
Benchmark
Gold rose
The dollar to Japanese yen was flat at
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