Wall St ends slightly higher in shortened session, Tesla jumps
Wall Street’s main indexes ended with slim gains in a holiday-shortened session on Monday, helped by a surge in Tesla and strength in bank shares as the second half of the year kicked off on a subdued note.
Tesla TSLA.O shares jumped 6.9% as the electric vehicle maker said it delivered a record number of vehicles in the second quarter.
Shares of major banks gained after the companiesraised dividends as they sailed through the Federal Reserve’s annual health check. Wells Fargo WFC.N shares rose 1.7%, Citigroup C.N shares climbed 1.5%, while the S&P 500 banks index .SPXBK ended up 1.5%.
Trading volumes were lighter than average as the stock market closed at 1 p.m. ET ahead of the July 4th Independence Day holiday on Tuesday.
“You have got a lot of people that are just not in the market today,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. “Nobody is really placing any big bets on either side of the market right now.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 10.87 points, or 0.03%, to 34,418.47; the S&P 500 .SPX gained 5.21 points, or 0.12%, at 4,455.59; and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 28.85 points, or 0.21%, at 13,816.77.
While nine of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, healthcare .SPXHC fell the most, dropping 0.8%, while the heavyweight technology sector .SPLRCT fell 0.3%.
Stocks ended higher on Friday, closing out a strong first-half of the year for major equity indexes. The Nasdaq Composite posted its biggest first-half gain in 40 years, rising 31.7%.
Outsized gains for megacap stocks have led indexes this year, but recent signs have shown a broadening rally.
“You have a stronger market and the likelihood of a more sustained upside move when you have broader strength,” Carlson said.
A widely watched section of the U.S. Treasury yield curve hit its deepest inversion on Monday since 1981, reflecting financial markets’ concerns about the economy.
U.S. manufacturing slumped further in June, a survey showed, reaching levels last seen when the economy was reeling from the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.27-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.51-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 59 new highs and 47 new lows.
About 6 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 11 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.
The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditure index (PCE) for May, will be released on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters expect core rates to remain steady at 4.7%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was still on track for a gain of more than 29% in the first half of the year, its biggest such gain in 40 years. On Thursday it managed to pare losses and close barely lower but was under pressure throughout the day from losses in megacaps including Amazon, Meta Platform, Nvidia and Microsoft.
The Philadelphia semiconductor index managed a small 0.13% gain but underpeformed during the session, with a 4% decline in Micron Technology shares leading losses even though the chipmaker beat estimates for third-quarter results.
Occidental Petroleum rose 1.8% after Berkshire Hathaway Inc said it added more shares of the oil firm, boosting its stake to above 25%.
Shares in sportswear maker Nike closed up 0.3% but then fell around 1% after the bell, even though its financial report showed that it beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue with buoyant demand for sneakers such as Air Jordan and LeBron 20.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.93-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.48-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 44 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 90 new highs and 90 new lows.
On U.S. exchanges 9.65 billion shares changed hands compared with the 11.34 billion moving average for the last 20 sessions.