S&P 500 Hits All-Time High in Late-Day Advance
A rally in chipmakers drove stocks to all-time highs, while talks between US and Russia raised hopes of an end to the war in Ukraine.
The S&P 500 topped its January record despite a slide in most big techs.
Top officials from the US and Russia met for a first round of talks over the war in Ukraine and raised the possibility of broader cooperation.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 added 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average wavered. A gauge of chipmakers climbed 1.7%.
Intel Corp. surged on breakup speculation. Super Micro Computer Inc. jumped on a bullish outlook. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. soared as CNBC said a Sycamore Partners takeout is alive. Meta Platforms Inc. halted a 20-day rally.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose seven basis points to 4.55%. A dollar gauge added 0.2%. Bitcoin sank 2.3%.
To Matt Maley at Miller Tabak + Co., we’d need to see a meaningful break of the S&P 500 above its record for it to be considered a compelling development.
“The new high in January was only a very mild move above the record high set in December,” he said. “And it fell right back into its sideways range very quickly.”
The US benchmark has spent the better part of the last three months in a “pretty narrow” trading range, and we are entering a weak seasonal period with weak momentum, said Jonathan Krinsky at BTIG.
“Our concern would be a marginal new high before a deeper pullback into March,” he noted. “With that said, until bears can break back under 6,000, bulls remain in the driver seat.”
Mark Hackett at Nationwide says stocks are attempting to break out to a record despite geopolitical uncertainty, weak seasonality and retail investor exhaustion.
“As earnings expectations accelerate and the share repurchase window opens for most companies, the key tenets of the bear argument are breaking down,” he said. “And odds are improving that the S&P 500 breaks out of the trading range it has been stuck in since the election.”
Source : Bloomberg
