Damian Troise
Updated ,first published
Stocks rose on Wall Street on Monday to open what’s expected to be a relatively calm holiday week.
The gains were broad. Technology companies and banks did much of the heavy lifting. Industrial companies also gave a strong push to major indexes.
The S&P 500 rose 43.99 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 6,878.49. The Dow Jones rose 227.79 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 48,362.68. The Nasdaq composite rose 121.21 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 23,428.83.
The Australian sharemarket is set to advance, with futures pointing to a rise of 14 points, or 0.2 per cent, at the open. The ASX added 0.9 per cent on Monday. The Australian dollar was trading at US66.58¢ at 5.12am AEDT.
Smaller company stocks did particularly well. The Russell 2000 index outpaced other major indexes with a 1.2 per cent gain.
The gains also helped major indexes push further into winning territory for the month as a choppy December nears its end. Technology companies, especially those focused on artificial intelligence, have been the main force behind the market’s oscillations. The direction of AI-related stocks will likely determine whether the market closes out December with gains or losses.
“If a Santa Claus rally does kick in this year, St. Nick’s gift bag will likely need to be full of positive tech sentiment,” wrote Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.
Nvidia, which has had a big role in driving the broader tech sector higher this year, rose 1.5 per cent. JPMorgan was among the bigger winners in the banking sector with a 1.9 per cent gain.
Uber rose 2.5 per cent and Lyft rose 2.7 per cent after announcing plans to bring robotaxi services to London next year.
Paramount Skydance rose 4.3 per cent. The company sweetened its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with an “irrevocable personal guarantee” from Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle and father of Paramount CEO David Ellison. He is putting up billions of dollars to back the deal as part of the latest move in Paramount’s bidding war against Netflix.
Warner Bros. Discovery rose 3.5 per cent and Netflix fell 1.2 per cent.
Dominion Energy fell 3.7 per cent after the Trump administration said it is pausing leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects. They include Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.
Gold and silver touched records and oil prices jumped after the US Coast Guard said it was pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean.
Gold prices rose 1.9 per cent to settle at $US4,469.40, adding to its consistent gains throughout the year. Silver rose 1.6 per cent.
Crude oil prices in the US rose 2.4 per cent to $US58.01 a barrel. Prices for Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 2.6 per cent to $US62.07 a barrel.
Treasury yields edged higher in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.16 per cent from 4.15 per cent late Friday.
Asian markets rose, and European markets slipped.
Markets in the US will close early on Wednesday for Christmas Eve and remain closed on Thursday for Christmas. The short week for trading includes several economic reports that could shed more light on the condition and direction of the US economy.
On Tuesday, the government releases the first of three estimates on gross domestic product, a reflection of how the broader US economy fared in the third quarter. On Wednesday, the Labor Department will release its weekly data on applications for jobless benefits, which stands as a proxy for US layoffs.
The Conference Board offers up results from its December consumer confidence survey on Tuesday as well.
The upcoming reports follow a mix of updates last week that show inflation remains elevated and consumer confidence has diminished over the last year. Overall, the job market has been slowing and retail sales have weakened.
The ongoing and wide-ranging US trade war has been hanging over consumers and businesses already squeezed and worried by higher prices. The mix of stubbornly high inflation and a weaker jobs market has also put the Federal Reserve in a more difficult policy position moving forward.
The Fed has cut its benchmark interest rate at its last three meetings, despite inflation that has remained stubbornly above its 2 per cent target. Fed officials have grown increasingly concerned about the slowing job market, pushing them to trim rates. Cutting interest rates to bolster the economy because of a weak job market could fuel inflation, however.
Wall Street is mostly betting that the Fed will hold steady on interest rates at its meeting in January.
AP
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