Tech stocks power S&P to yet another record high

By Tanya Agrawal

REUTERS - The S&P 500 hit a record intraday high on Monday, led by tech stocks such as Apple and Google-parent Alphabet, but a drop in oil prices weighed on energy stocks.

The index has been on a record-breaking rally - helped by largely positive data and strong earnings - and hit an intraday high for the seventh time in July on Friday.

The S&P 500 gained 3.6 percent in July, lifting its valuation well above historical levels.

Oil prices fell about 2.3 percent due to an increase in OPEC production and U.S. oil rig additions. Exxon and Chevron were down 2.1 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. The stocks were the biggest drags on the S&P and Dow.

Apple's 1.2 percent rise provided the biggest boost to the three main indexes. The stock has gained more than 9 percent since reporting results last week.

"The economic data until last week had been pretty decent but since the GDP numbers came out, we're seeing holes in the argument that the second half of the year is going to be better," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.

Growth in U.S. gross domestic product in the second quarter unexpectedly remained tepid and came in below expectations.

Data on Monday showed U.S. manufacturing activity slowed in July as orders fell broadly and construction spending dropped in June.

The chance of an interest rate hike by the end of the year fell to about 33 percent after the GDP numbers were released, according to CME Fedwatch, from about 50 percent early last week.

At 11:18 a.m. ET (1518 GMT), the S&P 500 was up 4.22 points, or 0.19 percent, at 2,177.82. The index is trading near 17.4 times forward 12-month earnings, above the 10-year median of 14.7 times, according to StarMine data.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 30.23 points, or 0.16 percent, at 18,462.47, while the Nasdaq Composite index was up 35.38 points, or 0.69 percent, at 5,197.51.

Seven of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, with the health index's 0.63 percent rise leading the advancers.

Biogen's 5 percent rise provided the biggest boost to the sector.

SolarCity fell 4.8 percent to $25.41 after Tesla said the two companies had agreed to merge. Tesla was little changed at $235.12.

Fleetmatics jumped 38.8 percent to $59.62 after Verizon said it would buy the GPS vehicle tracking company for about $2.4 billion. Verizon was down 0.8 percent at $54.93

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,535 to 1,314. On the Nasdaq, 1,588 issues rose and 1,067 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 29 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 70 new highs and 13 new lows.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)