Business & Economy

S&P500 notches first record close since February, Nasdaq makes new high

New York, Aug 18 (efe-epa).- Wall Street closed mixed on Tuesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending the session in the red but the S&P500 Index and the Nasdaq both setting new records.

For the S&P, it was the first record close since Feb. 19, before the coronavirus pandemic shattered the surging market’s momentum and blasted the US economy.

The Nasdaq moved to a new high on the strength of big tech stocks.

At the close on the New York Stock Exchange, the S&P500 had moved 7.79 points higher to 3,389.78, thus erasing all its losses during the Covid-19 crisis and gaining 54 percent since its low set on March 23.

The Nasdaq rose 81.12 points to 11,210.84, pushed higher by Amazon (up 4.09 percent), Alphabet (up 2.68 percent) and Netflix (up 1.97 percent), among other big names, all of which contributed to hiking the index to its second consecutive new high amid an upward run that has lasted weeks.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones retreated 67.32 points to 27,777.59, burdened by big corporations such as Chevron (down 2.10 percent), JPMorgan (down 1.38 percent, UnitedHealth (down 1.15 percent), Home Depot (also down 1.15 percent) and Boeing (down 1.08 percent).

The S&P500, which represents the broader US market, on Tuesday hit a milestone by taking just 126 trading sessions to fully recover from its recent low, which marked the end of the bull market cycle that had lasted 10 years.

According to analysts, this is the fastest recovery ever from a bear market, although society and the real economy continue to suffer from the effects of the pandemic, with 10 percent unemployment and about a million people requesting loans to keep themselves afloat.

Analyst Steven Wagner, with Ombia Damily Wealth, told The Wall Street Journal that there is a feeling of euphoria on the NYSE but added that investors are simultaneously perplexed by the disconnection between the economy and what they see in their own companies, their lives and stock prices.

The US Federal Reserve, among other things, has pushed through important monetary and fiscal stimulus measures to alleviate the blow dealt by the coronavirus, and top US companies have seen their balance sheets hurt, although generally speaking they have released better than expected quarterly results, given the circumstances.

The market, however, continues to be dominated by uncertainty regarding a new economic aid package to mitigate the effects of Covid-19, a stimulus package that has divided lawmakers in Congress, along with trade tensions with China and the upcoming presidential vote.

By sectors, the biggest gains on Tuesday were seen in non-durable goods (up 1.46 percent), communications (up 1.09 percent), technology (up 0.39 percent) and durable goods (up 0.36 percent), while the other market sectors declined led by energy (down 1.71 percent) and finance (down 0.67 percent).

Among the most robust firms in the 30-stock Dow Jones were Nike (up 1.24 percent), Apple (up 0.83 percent) and McDonald’s (up 0.79 percent).

In other markets, West Texas Intermediate Crude remained stable at $42.89 per barrel, gold rose to $2,012.60 per ounce, the US 10-year Treasury Bond interest rate fell to 0.669 percent and the dollar lost ground against the euro, closing at $1.1938 per euro.

EFE

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