© Reuters
By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – S&P ended above an unprecedented milestone to hit another record high on Monday, as both cyclicals and growth played a role in the record day for three major averages amid a Covid- 19 in improvement and growing expectations for another round of fiscal stimulus.
The price rose 0.74% to 3,915.60, while it closed with a high of 0.76%, or 237 points, and jumped 0.95%. All three major averages closed at all-time highs.
Energy led gains in the broader market, sustained by an increase of more than a year in the bets of an acceleration in the rate of vaccinations will lead to a strong reopening and increase the demand for energy.
Marathon oil Corporation (NYSE :), Apache Corporation (NASDAQ 🙂 and Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE 🙂 were up sharply, with the latter growing by around 9%.
The energy sector was also supported by a rise in major oil companies Exxon Mobil (NYSE 🙂 on an update from BNP Paris to low-performance neutral, citing the company’s planned reduction in fossil fuel spending.
Disney (NYSE :), up 5%, was one of the biggest contributors to the rise of the Dow Jones, as investors bet that a faster rate of vaccination will lead to a faster reopening of the company’s theme parks. The recovery at Disney comes just days before its quarterly earnings report later this week.
The financial sector was also among the biggest winners in the sector.
Citigroup (NYSE 🙂 and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE 🙂 added more than 1%, while Bank of America (NYSE 🙂 and Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE 🙂 increased by 2%.
The upward movement in cyclicals was also supported by the drop in Covid-19 cases and the growing optimism that the fiscal stimulus will be launched sooner or later.
The labor market is in a “deep hole,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, citing the 779,000 unemployment claims filed last week. “We need a big package and we need to do this quickly,” she added in an interview with CNN.
In the USA, the number of cases has decreased from 235,000 to 87,000, with more than 42 million doses of vaccine administered. Despite progress, however, President Biden has warned that the United States is unlikely to achieve collective immunity before the fall, ”said Stifel in a statement.
Quarterly earnings, however, continued to surprise positively.
Hasbro (NASDAQ 🙂 fell 4%, despite reporting fourth quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street estimates.
Hershey (NYSE 🙂 was up 2% as an increase in sales led by a pandemic helped the company achieve a profit breakthrough in the fourth quarter.
In technology, Apple (NASDAQ 🙂 cut losses to end just above the flat line, ignoring media reports on Friday suggesting the tech company had paused its talks with Hyundai and Kia about plans to develop an electric vehicle .
Still, Wall Street analysts say it is a question of when not whether the tech giant will make a foray into the electric vehicle industry.
“While the timing of an EV partnership with companies like Hyundai, or another automaker, remains the primary focus of the street and EV industry for the next few months, we attribute an 85% chance that Apple will announce a partnership / collaboration of EV over the next 3 to 6 months, “Wedbush said in a note.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ :), for its part, closed down 1% because the company failed in its attempt to delay voting for warehouse workers in Alabama to form a union. The results of the vote are expected later this week.
Tesla (NASDAQ 🙂 was up 1% after announcing this. “We hope to start accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially to a limited extent,” said Tesla in the lawsuit form.
The news soared to record levels as Tesla’s move supports the idea of companies investing in Bitcoin as a treasury asset and further endorses cryptography as a protection against inflation, according to David Wachsman, chief executive and founder from Wachsman.
“Bitcoin’s narrative as a hedge against inflation continues to hold water among companies and institutional investors, with prominent advocates of investing in Bitcoin as a Treasury asset, as Michael Saylor of Microstrategy (NASDAQ 🙂 probably driving this move by Tesla “Wachsman said in an email.