NEW YORK – Wall Street stocks powered to fresh records yesterday, shaking off concerns about global growth and the Delta Covid-19 variant that pressured equities the day prior.
All three major indices closed at all-time highs, led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which finished up 1.3% at 34,870.16.
The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 1.1% to 4,369.55, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.0% to 14,701.92.
Analysts attributed the rally to bargain hunting after Thursday’s losing session, along with relief over a jump in the yield of the 10-year United States Treasury bond after it sagged below 1.3%.
“We’re in a bull market, and the path of least resistance is up,” said Maris Ogg of Tower Bridge Advisers.
“You get some concerns like we did yesterday (Thursday), and then people reconsider, and they come back and buy stocks again.
“We’re in the second year of what will probably be at least a five-year expansion.”
This week’s sharp pullback in yields was seen as suggesting weakening confidence in the medium-term global growth outlook, but the yield on the 10-year bond climbed sharply yesterday.
A note from Oxford Economics predicted yields on the 10-year note will move back towards 1.9% this year, citing “still-strong economic growth, elevated inflation, increased global vaccination rates and a more hawkish Fed”.
Yesterday’s rally was broad-based, but banks did especially well in the wake of the rise in bond yields.
Industrials, materials and energy shares were also especially strong. – AFP, July 10, 2021
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