Financial, health-care and industrial stocks lead rally
U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday, 09 November 2016 with the Dow Industrials led by a surge in financial, health-care and industrial stocks, as investors bet on the infrastructure spending policy promised by President-elect Donald Trump. The rally on Wall Street was in contrast to sharp losses seen in the futures market before the market opened, as it became apparent that the Republican contender was close to pulling off a major upset in the U.S. presidential contest.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained as much as 316 points, briefly surpassing the all-time closing high set in August. The index closed 256.95 points, or 1.4%, higher at 18,589.69. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 57.58 points, or 1.1%, to 5,251.07. The S&P 500 index ended up 23.70 points, or 1.1%, at 2,163.26.
Big gains in health care, financials and industrials more than offset sharp losses in defensive sectors such as utilities and consumer staples. Technology stocks in general were weaker. Pfizer and Caterpillar led the gains, rallying more than 7%.
Dow futures plunged as much as 800 points late Tuesday and early Wednesday as Trump claimed victories in several key battleground states, while S&P 500 futures hit a trading limit, down 5%, the biggest futures decline allowed under CME Group rules.
Trump's acceptance speech early Wednesday mentioning Keynesian-style spending and sounding a touch more conciliatory than had been the case during his campaign appeared to reset investors' expectations. He pledged to supporters gathered in New York City that he will be president for all Americans. The President-elect also underscored that infrastructure spending will play a large role in his administration.
Equity indices showed marked resilience as the group erased marginal losses by mid-morning. Resilience in the broader market continued to stoke risk appetite as investors worked to price-in expectations of aggressive infrastructure spending and responded to a lower likelihood for price controls in the health care space.
Financials surged thanks to a jump in interest rates to their highest levels since January. Shares of Bank of America Corp surged 5.7%, Wells Fargo & Co. gained 5.4% while J.P. Morgan Chase rallied 4.5%.
Today's economic data was limited to the weekly MBA Mortgage Index and the Wholesale Inventory Report for September. The MBA Mortgage Index indicated that mortgage applications fell 1.2% in the week ending November 5. This followed a 1.2% decline in the prior week. Separately, wholesale inventories increased 0.1% month-over-month in September (consensus +0.2%) following an upwardly revised 0.1% decline (from -0.2%) in August. Wholesale sales were up 0.2% on the heels of an unrevised 0.7% increase in August.
The energy sector gained 1.5% as crude oil snapped a recent losing streak. The energy component rose following a mixed inventory report from the Department of Energy. The EIA reported that crude oil inventories increased by 2.43 million barrels (consensus: +1.33 million) while gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.84 million barrels (consensus: -1.03 million). WTI crude finished higher by 0.6% ($45.20/bbl; +$0.25).
Treasuries finished on a lower note as the long end of the curve underperformed. The yield on the 2-yr note finished higher by three basis points (0.90%) while the yield on the 10-yr note surged 22 basis points (2.08%).
Today's trading volume was above the average of 877 million as more than 1.39 billion shares changed hands at the NYSE floor.
Tomorrow's economic data will be limited to the 8:30 ET release of weekly initial claims (consensus 262k) and the 14:00 ET release of the October Treasury Budget.
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