U.S. Stocks Led Higher by Financial Companies
28 June 2017 - 11:34PM
Dow Jones News
By Amrith Ramkumar and Riva Gold
The Nasdaq Composite posted its biggest jump since November, as
rallying technology and bank shares led broad gains in U.S.
stocks.
It was a turnaround from the previous session, when major U.S.
stock indexes posted their biggest daily declines in weeks.
Some traders and analysts said the pullback allowed investors to
snap up stocks that have been rising this year with help from solid
corporate earnings. Recent declines in the U.S. stock market have
been relatively short-lived, and the S&P 500 is up 9% so far
this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 143.95 points, or 0.7%, to
21454.61 on Wednesday. Gains in J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.,
Goldman Sachs Group and Apple together added roughly 47 points to
the blue-chip index.
The S&P 500 rose 21.31 points, or 0.9%, to 2440.69 -- its
biggest one-day increase since late April -- and the Nasdaq
Composite climbed 87.79 points, or 1.4%, to 6234.41.
"Nothing about the economy and the makeup of the market has
changed, so people are viewing this as the only opportunity they
get to jump in and commit some capital," said Michael Antonelli,
equity sales trader at brokerage Robert W. Baird & Co.
Technology shares, up almost 19% this year in the S&P 500,
were back among the market's best performers Wednesday, rising
1.3%. Some investors' concerns that the sector had grown too
popular has contributed to the sector's 0.8% decline in June.
"Everybody remembers the [year] 2000 slipping of the tech
sector," said Jae Yoon, chief investment officer at New York Life
Investment Management. "But I have no concerns about tech
valuations," he said, noting that in terms of price-to-earnings
metrics, the sector is trading much closer in line to the S&P
500 than it did at its peak.
On Wednesday, highflying tech stocks like Apple, Google-parent
Alphabet, Amazon.com and Facebook each gained at least 1%.
Semiconductor company Nvidia rose $5.17, or 3.5%, to $151.75.
U.S. crude-oil prices rose for a fifth straight session,
supporting commodity-linked shares.
Financial stocks rose 1.6% in the S&P 500, with Bank of
America adding 61 cents, or 2.6%, to $23.88. The bank was expected
to get a stress-test result from the Federal Reserve that would let
it increase its dividend -- an outcome that was confirmed after the
U.S. stock market closed, when all 34 firms tested by the Fed got
approval for their capital-return plans. Shares of Wells Fargo
& Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase each rose more than 2%.
Reports that investors might have overestimated the European
Central Bank's readiness to reel in its stimulus program "got
[Wednesday's] rally going," said Mike O'Rourke, chief market
strategist at JonesTrading Institutional Services.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.223% from
2.198% Tuesday. Yields rise as prices fall.
Rising long-term bond yields, which tend to boost lending
profitability, have supported bank stocks in recent sessions.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 was little changed and Japan's
Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.5%.
Write to Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 28, 2017 18:19 ET (22:19 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.