US stocks drift higher; S&P 500 gets closer to record high

NEW YORK — U.S. stock indexes drifted upward Monday at the start of a busy week for markets, and the S&P 500 inched back within a few good days of its record high set last autumn.

Banks and energy companies had some of the biggest gains, though losses for internet companies and raw-material producers held back broader indexes. Another loss for Boeing weighed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Stocks regained their momentum last week and recovered from a brief stumble following the best start to a year for the S&P 500 in decades. The index is within 3.4 per cent of its record high, set in September, after recovering all of its terrifying drop from December.

One key to the recent rally has been the belief that the Federal Reserve will slow its pace of increases for interest rates. The worry in December was that the central bank would raise rates too fast in the face of a slowing global economy and choke off growth. The Fed will meet to discuss interest-rate policy this week, with an announcement scheduled for Wednesday, but economists expect it to announce no change to rates.

Politicians in London, meanwhile, continue to haggle about the United Kingdom’s pending departure from the European Union, which could have harmful effects for global trade.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and is already up 13 per cent for 2019 so far. That’s a bigger gain that it’s had in four of the last five full years.

The Nasdaq composite rose 0.5 per cent, and the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks gained 0.6 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was close to flat at 25,858, hurt by losses for Boeing and Walt Disney.

FED WATCH: The Fed begins a two-day meeting on rates Tuesday, and most investors are expecting very little to come out of it.

Stocks plunged late last year as investors worried about slowing economic growth around the world and feared that future rate increases by the Fed would only worsen it.

Investors were relieved when the central bank pledged early this year to take a patient approach. Some economists say the Fed could release documents Wednesday that would suggest zero rate increases are coming in 2019, after the Fed raised rates four times in 2018 and three times in 2017.

STILL GROUNDED: Boeing fell further as the investigation continues into two recent deadly crashes of its 737 Max 8 plane model. Preliminary information shows clear similarities between the two.

Boeing fell 2.7 per cent, following its 10.3 per cent loss last week.

SEARCHING FOR SINO SIGNS: Investors are still waiting for more progress in the trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.

China’s congress on Friday endorsed an investment law that aims to address complaints, particularly from the U.S., that China’s system is rigged against foreign companies. The U.S. claims China forces companies to share technology in order to do business in the country.

Chinese indexes rose Monday, with stocks in Shanghai up 2.5 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.4 per cent.

In a sign of how fluid the U.S.-China trade talks remain, however, news reports said a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to formalize a deal might be pushed back to June.

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AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama contributed from Tokyo.

Stan Choe, The Associated Press

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