(New York) The New York Stock Exchange closed in the green on Monday, at the start of a new semester, driven by safe values and the NASDAQ, which closed at a new record.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.13% to 39,169.52, the tech-heavy NASDAQ Index gained 0.83% to a new high of 17,879.30, and the S&P 500 advanced 0.27% to 5,475.09.
In a market with modest trading, while in the United States the week will be shortened by the July 4 holiday, a small half of the 11 sectors of the S&P ended in positive territory, led by information technology (+1.30%).
“Trading has shifted toward safe havens as the market responds to the rise of populism here in the U.S. and elsewhere,” Cresset’s Jack Ablin said.
In addition to technology sector leaders such as Amazon (+2.04%), Apple (+2.91%) and Microsoft (+2.19%), banks such as Goldman Sachs (+2.51%) and JPMorgan (+1.58%) attracted investors.
On the bond market, ten-year rates rose sharply to 4.46% compared to 4.39% on Friday.
For Jack Ablin, “those who observe the American central bank (Fed) judge that if Trump is elected, he will extend the tax cuts granted to companies, which pushes back the possibility of reductions in interest rates by the Fed.”
The conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court on Monday further delayed the federal trial of candidate Donald Trump, issuing a ruling on a president’s criminal immunity that makes it virtually impossible to hold the trial before the election in four months.
Investors also weighed the outlook for the second round of legislative elections in France.
“The good performance of the National Rally” in the first round “seems insufficient to give it an absolute majority, but the second round of elections scheduled for July 7 will finalize the list of elected officials,” commented Will Compernolle of FHN Financial.
“Stocks in European markets have rallied so far on hopes that a more centrist coalition will prevail,” the analyst continued.
According to the results of the first round of the legislative elections, President Macron’s camp came in third place on Sunday with 20.04% of the vote, behind the New Popular Front (27.99%) and Marine Le Pen’s party, the National Rally, which was well ahead with 33.14% of the vote.
The French elections will be followed on Thursday by the British elections.
An ISM gauge of manufacturing activity for June showed a further slowdown in the US to 48.5%, below the 49.1% expected.
On the stock market, aircraft manufacturer Boeing gained 2.58% after announcing the acquisition of its subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems.
The deal is an all-stock deal at $37.25 per share, valuing Spirit AeroSystems at $4.7 billion. Including Spirit’s debt, the deal is valued at $8.3 billion.
Spirit AeroSystems and Boeing have been under scrutiny since a door on the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 came loose in mid-flight on Jan. 5.
Spirit Aerosystems shares rose 3.35%.
US asset manager BlackRock (-0.64%) has announced the acquisition of UK data provider Preqin for more than $3 billion.
In detail, BlackRock will buy all of Preqin for 2.55 billion pounds, or about 3.2 billion dollars. The operation should be finalized by the end of the year.
Shares of pet food retailer Chewy have been gyrating like meme stocks.
The stock opened up 6% but eventually lost as much after “Roaring Kitty,” a trader active in viral stocks like GameStop, told securities regulators that he had taken a stake of more than 6% in the company.
From Carnival (-5.40%) to Royal Caribbean (-1.86%), cruise lines suffered from the arrival of dangerous Hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean.