The S&P 500 jumped on Wednesday but finished just short of its February record closing high, in a broad rally led by tech stocks.
The index during the session traded above its record high close of 3,386.15 from Feb. 19, before the onset of the coronavirus crisis in the United States that caused one of Wall Street’s most dramatic crashes in history.
Heavyweights Microsoft Corp, Amazon nd Apple Inc were among the top boosts to the S&P 500.
The Nasdaq and Dow also rose sharply. The Nasdaq was the first of the three major indexes to bounce back to an all-time high in June. The Dow remains below its February peak.
With a better-than-feared second-quarter earnings season largely over, investors are preparing for the risk of a closely contested U.S. presidential election in the fall.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday picked Senator Kamala Harris as his choice for vice president.
Investors also awaited news on stimulus talks. A breakdown in bipartisan talks over the next federal aid bill to help tens of millions of Americans suffering in the coronavirus pandemic entered a fifth day, with neither side ready to resume negotiations.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.03% to end at 27,971.9 points, while the S&P 500 gained 1.38% to 3,379.81.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.1% to 11,009.76.
Tesla Inc shares jumped, making it among the biggest boosts for the Nasdaq, as it announced a five-for-one stock split in an attempt to make its shares more accessible to employees and investors.
In Toronto, S&P/TSX composite index was up 78.27 points, or 0.47%, at 16,575.28.
The energy sector climbed 2% as crude prices rose more than 2% on Wednesday after government data showed U.S. oil inventories fell across the board, bolstering hopes that fuel demand in the world’s biggest economy will withstand the coronavirus pandemic.
Brent crude settled up 93 cents, or 2.1%, at $45.43 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate oil ended $1.06, or 2.6%, higher at $42.67 a barrel, having dropped 0.8% in the previous session.
U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week as refiners ramped up production and demand improved, a government report showed.
U.S. fuel demand rose to 19.37 million barrels per day last week, the highest since March, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.
“We’re seeing the demand bounce back,” said Phil Flynn, senior energy analyst at Price Futures Group. “The market is tightening a lot quicker than people thought.”
The financials sector gained 0.5%, while the industrials sector rose 1%.
The materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added just 0.1% as gold for delivery in December slipped $2.70 to $1,949 per ounce.
On Tuesday, gold crashed as much as 6.2% in its worst one-day fall since April 2013.
Reuters
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