US Nasdaq, S&P500 holds at records

The US stock market drifted further into record heights in a listless day on Tuesday, 29 June 2021, pushing the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite to new records, as an upbeat consumer confidence report of June 2021 bolstered expectations for strong economic growth in the second quarter.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index rose 9.02 points, or 0.02%, to 34,292. The S&P 500 index added 1.19 points, or 0.03%, at 4,292. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed up 27.83 points, or 0.19%, to 14,528.

Total 8 of 11 S&P 500 sectors closed down, with utilities (down 1.65%) declined the most, followed by communication services (down 0.52%), energy (down 0.5%), consumer staples (down 0.41%), and financials (down 0.33%) sectors, while information technology (up 0.7%) sector was top gainer, followed by consumer discretionary (up 0.23%) sectors.

Stocks have set their recent records on optimism that the economy is strengthening and that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low for a while longer.

A report released Tuesday morning showed a measure of confidence among U.S. consumers jumped to its highest level in nearly 1-1/2 years in June as growing labor market optimism amid a reopening economy offset concerns about higher inflation. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index raced to a reading of 127.3 this month, the highest level since February 2020, from 120.0 in May.

A separate report showed that home prices across the country rose again in April, continuing their blistering pace. The S&P Case-Shiller national home price index, which covers all nine US census divisions, rose 14.6 per cent year on year in April, data on Tuesday showed. That followed a 13.3 per cent annual jump in March

Technology stocks led the market higher in Tuesday's trading session, as the reopening trade continued to cool down as the yield of 10-Year US Treasuries remained below 1.50%.

Shares of lenders were higher after US banks have authorized up to $20 billion in new stock buybacks and increased their quarterly dividend payments by a combined $2 billion after Fed stress tests showed that they could withstand a financial crisis. Morgan Stanley rose 3.4% after announcing a doubling of its dividend and plans to buy back $12 billion of its own stock.

Among Indian ADR, Tata Motors fell 0.31% to $22.83, Wipro fell 0.25% to $7.85, ICICI Bank fell 1.71% to $17.24, Vedanta fell 0.91% to $14.22, and HDFC Bank fell 0.65% to $73.87, Dr Reddys Labs was up 0.57% to $73.46, INFOSYS added 0.75% to $21.45, and WNS Holdings added 0.01% to $81.01.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News