Stocks - Dow, S&P Open at Record Highs Thanks to Tech, Financials
Investing.com - Wall Street opened higher Thursday as technology stocks rebounded and a rise in bond yields helped financial stocks continue the previous session’s rally.
The Dow jumped 224.68, or 0.85%, to 26,630.44, while the broader S&P 500 index rose 14.59, or 0.5%, to 2,922.54. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 47.34, or 0.6%, to 7,997.38.
The Dow last closed at a record high in January.
In the tech sector, chip stocks saw some buying interest ahead of Micron’s earnings report, due after the bell, which will give investors some more insight into whether memory chips are starting a cyclical downturn.
Micron (NASDAQ:MU), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Dow component Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) all started the day higher.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) also lent some strength to techs and the Dow, rising about 1%.
And strong economic numbers this morning helped bolster the case for two Federal Reserve rate hikes this year, pushing the 10-year yield closer to 3.1% and helping bank stocks.
Initial jobless claims remained at a 49-year low last week, falling unexpectedly to 201,000.
And the Philly Fed said its September manufacturing index rose to 22.9 from 11.9 in August, topping expectations.
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) opened higher. The Dow also received a boost from trade proxies Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), as worries about escalating tensions between the U.S. and China ebbed.
Among other active stocks, Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) stock slumped about 7% as the company reported quarterly sales that missed estimates and provided weak third-quarter guidance.
And Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) stock rose about 3% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results and raising its full-year guidance.
In Europe, stocks were higher. Germany’s DAX rose 126.67 points, or 1.04%, while in France the CAC 40 gained 58.44 points, or 1.08%, and in London, the FTSE 100 rose 33.13 points, or 0.45%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained 40.42 points, or 1.2%,, while Spain’s IBEX 35 jumped 115.65 points, or 1.22%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.26% to $1,211.40 a troy ounce, while crude oil futures increased 0.59% to $71.19 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.66% to 93.91.
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