Nasdaq closes at records for a second straight session
U.S. stocks gained on Monday, 27 August 2018 with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closing at records for a second straight session, as the market rallied on enthusiasm over a new trade deal between the U.S. and Mexico. It is also the first time the Nasdaq traded above 8,000. It marks the second 1,000-point advance for the Nasdaq this year, something that has not happened since 1999.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 259.29 points, or 1%, to 26,049.64 after the blue-chip index successfully reclaimed the psychologically-important 26,000 mark for the first time since February. The S&P 500 index gained 22.05 points, or 0.8%, to 2,896.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 71.92 points, or 0.9%, to 8,017.90.
Monday's gains were broad-based, with nine of eleven sectors finishing in the green. The top-performing groups were financials, industrials, and materials; the top-weighted technology sector also outperformed, with Advanced Micro extending a 12-yr high. Conversely, the lightly-weighted utilities and real estate sectors finished at the back of the pack.
In corporate news, Tesla slid after its CEO, Elon Musk, announced that he's abandoned plans to take the electric automaker private which he controversially floated as a possibility on August 7, saying that he's secured funding for a deal at a price of $420 per share. P> Away from equities, U.S. Treasuries fell on Monday, sending yields higher across the curve; the benchmark 10-yr yield climbed two basis points to 2.85%.
The U.S. dollar fell on Monday following news of a trade agreement between the U.S. and Mexico. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a preliminary deal with Mexico on issues that have held up renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement for more than a year.
Rates were in focus again recently when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, at the annual Fed symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, last week said gradual U.S. interest-rate hikes remain appropriate and there was no risk to the economy overheating.
In the economic-data front, a measure of the U.S. economy from the Chicago Federal Reserve slowed in July from June's robust performance, owed in large part to lighter output at the nation's factories. The Chicago Fed's index of national economic activity registered at a positive 0.13 last month, down from an upwardly revised positive 0.48 in June.
Crude oil futures ended higher on Monday, 27 August 2018 at Nymex sticking to a tight trading range as a committee of OPEC and non-OPEC producers reportedly revealed further progress in easing output curbs, as expected.
In a conference call Monday, the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee said that countries participating in the oil production-cut pact that was implemented at the start of 2017 fell to 109% in July. The call between members of the monitoring committee, which had been postponed from last week due to Muslim holidays, came after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and a group of other major producers, led by Russia, agreed in June to effectively boost production back to the level pledged to in a January 2017 pact on output curbs.
Bullion prices ended higher at Comex on Monday, 27 AUgust 2018. Gold prices settled higher on Monday, extending their gain from last week, as the U.S. dollar fell following news of a trade agreement between the U.S. and Mexico. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a preliminary deal with Mexico on issues that have held up renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement for more than a year.
Against that backdrop, the precious metal and the U.S. currency continued an inverse relationship Monday, with December gold up $2.70, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,216 an ounce as a leading dollar index fell 0.4% to 94.768. Gold often trades higher when the dollar weakens, and vice versa, because the precious metal is traded in the greenback. September silver rose 6.5 cents, or 0.4%, to $14.859 an ounce.
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