The benchmark S&P 500 hit an all-time intraday high on Tuesday, the same day it equaled its longest-ever bull-market run, as U.S. stocks rose on encouraging earnings reports and hopes that the United States and China could resolve their tariff dispute.
The index rose as much as 0.56 percent to a record high of 2,873.02 points, topping its previous record high of 2,872.87 on Jan. 26.
The index’s bull-market run is now 3,452 days old and on Wednesday will be the longest such streak in history, at least for some market watchers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 128.98 points, or 0.5 percent, to 25,887.67 and the Nasdaq Composite added 75.26 points, or 0.96 percent, to 7,896.27.
Stocks have been buoyed by a surging American economy, with gross domestic product expanding at the fastest pace in four years during the April-June period and corporate America posting two quarters of 20 percent profit increases.
“It certainly was a shock how rapidly the market ran up in January, but now that we’re eight months into the year, that sort of a rise for the market overall makes sense,” Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at Oakbrook Investments, said by phone. “It’s taken a while for companies to grow into that profit level to support those prices. At this point, it’s not too surprising.”
While it took half a year, the recovery rewarded equity investors who held on in the face of turbulent bond yields, Federal Reserve rate hikes and President Donald Trump’s global tariff war. The S&P 500 is up more than 7 percent in 2018, led by gains of more than 15 percent in technology and consumer discretionary stocks and an almost 11 percent rally in health-care companies.
U.S. shares rose Tuesday amid signs that low-level talks between Chinese and American trade representatives may lead to some cooling of rhetoric on the months-long spat. The Trump administration plans to slap tariffs on $16 billion of goods on the same day and China is poised to retaliate. At the same time, investors await clues on monetary policy as central bankers gather in Jackson Hole Friday.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 38.13 points at 16,369.16.
The Canadian dollar traded higher at 76.66 cents US compared with an average of 76.54 cents US on Monday.
The October crude oil contract was up 78 cents at US$66.20 per barrel and the September natural gas contract was up 2.3 cents at US$2.96 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$1.10 at US$1,195.70 an ounce and the September copper contract was up 2.95 cents at US$2.70 a pound.
Reuters and Bloomberg News