Comments
US stocks ended stronger on Monday, helped by bounces in Apple and Microsoft as well as a rally in hospital stocks after more Americans signed up for subsidised health insurance.
Shares of Apple Inc, under pressure in December over concerns that iPhone sales could miss estimates, rose 1.23 per cent and boosted major indexes.
About 6 million people have signed up for subsidised health insurance, often called Obamacare, including 2.4 million new customers, the US government said on Friday.
Tenet Healthcare Corp jumped 11.6 per cent, its best day since June. Universal Health Services Inc rose 3.64 per cent.
Notwithstanding Monday's broad gains, many on Wall Street have acknowledged that 2015 looks to be a modest loss for stock investors, said Jennifer Ellison, a principal of San Francisco-based Bingham, Osborn & Scarborough.
Although the S&P 500 touched record highs in 2015, the index is down about 1.8 per cent for the year as slowing growth in China, a slump in commodities prices and uncertainty over US interest rates buffeted shares. The Dow Jones industrial average is down about 3.2 per cent.
"It's going to be tough to get much of a rally now because it's so quiet and volume is already down," Ellison said. "Nobody's interested in anything except making some modest tweaks to their portfolios for year-end spit and polish."
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.72 per cent to end at 17,251.48 points and the S&P 500 gained 0.78 per cent to 2,021.16.
The Nasdaq Composite added 0.93 per cent to finish at 4,968.92, helped by a 1.29 per cent gain in Microsoft.
All of the 10 S&P sectors ended higher, led by a 1.11 per cent rise in telecoms and a 1.06 per cent increase in technology.
The effects of the first Federal Reserve interest rate hike in almost a decade last week continued to resonate with investors.
"It reaffirms our view that the economy is doing really well," said Philip Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.
With oil prices under pressure from global oversupply and tepid demand, the S&P energy sector ended 0.05 per cent firmer after spending much of the day at a loss.
Volume on the US exchanges was 6.8 billion shares, compared to a 7.55 billion average over the last 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Trading volumes were expected to be light for the rest of the week, with stock markets operating a shortened session on Thursday and closing on Friday for Christmas.
Juniper Networks Inc dropped 4.99 per cent after Reuters reported the US government was investigating whether unauthorised code was inserted in its software, which could be used to spy on customers.
Walt Disney Co lost 1.05 per cent as worries about the outlook for its ESPN sports network outweighed enthusiasm about the record-breaking opening weekend for the latest Star Wars movie.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange 2,013 to 1,041. On the Nasdaq, 1,764 issues rose and 1,095 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed two new 52-week highs and 20 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 40 new highs and 100 new lows.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.