Technology companies, banks power US stocks solidly higher
Posted March 26, 2019 7:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Stocks rose broadly in early trading Tuesday on Wall Street, erasing the market’s modest losses from a day earlier.
Technology companies powered the rally, with chipmakers among the biggest gainers. Nvidia rose 3.7 per cent and Advanced Micro Devices added 2.3 per cent.
Banks also notched solid gains as bond prices headed lower, sending yields slightly higher. That helps banks charge higher interest rates on loans. Morgan Stanley rose 1.8 per cent.
Health care and communications stocks also notched solid gains. Energy companies climbed as the price of U.S. crude oil moved above $60 a barrel. Oil hasn’t settled above that price since November.
The rally marked a reversal for the market, which started the week on a downbeat note after racking up losses last week as investors’ jitters over a global economic slowdown intensified. That led to a troubling drop in long-term bond yields, which many see as a warning sign of a possible recession.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.43 per cent in early trading Tuesday, up from 2.41 per cent late Monday. It’s still slightly below the yield on the three-month Treasury bill.
Despite the market’s recent gyrations, the benchmark S&P 500 index is still up more than 12 per cent so far in 2019, an unusually strong start to a year, and on course for a solid first quarter for the market.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 218 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 25,735 as of 10:12 a.m. Eastern Time. The S&P 500 index gained 0.9 per cent and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.1 per cent. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks picked up 0.9 per cent.
Major European indexes were also headed higher, rebounding from a day earlier.
BIG APPLE: Shares in Apple climbed 1.9 per cent a day after the consumer electronics giant announced a suite of new services to run on its devices.
The company plans to launch a subscription TV service dubbed Apple TV Plus, which will be ad-free and will compete with big streaming services including Netflix and Amazon Video.
BOARDROOM BRAWL: Bed Bath & Beyond soared 26.7 per cent in heavy trading after The Wall Street Journal reported that the troubled retailer is being targeted by three activist investors.
ROUGH SEAS: Carnival slumped 7.3 per cent after the cruise line operator’s latest quarterly results fell short of Wall Street’s forecasts. The company also issued a weaker-than-expected second-quarter earnings outlook.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude climbed 2.1 per cent to $60.06 a barrel. Oil has not closed above $60 a barrel since Nov. 9. Brent crude, used to price international oils, was up 1.3 per cent to $67.66 a barrel.
Alex Veiga, The Associated Press
