By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended higher with a boost from technology stocks in light trading on Columbus Day on Monday, while crude oil prices fell as investors analyzed signs of economic weakness in China and girdled for a string of high-profile corporate earnings .
Megacap’s tech-related growth stocks provided much of the upside, putting the Nasdaq in the lead.
The Dow Jones and the blue-chip Dow both reached new record highs.
“Today is clearly something of an anomaly of a day due to the lack of economic data and the bond market shutdown,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia. “The momentum is positive until something changes.”
“Revenues so far have been quite good,” Tuz added. “We’ll see what the next week brings.”
Oil prices fell and the dollar was flat as gloomy news from China fueled fears of a weakening in global demand.
On Saturday, Beijing pledged to “significantly increase” debt levels in its bid to revive the world’s second-largest economy, but disappointed investors with a lack of details.
This was followed on Monday by a report showing a sharp slowdown in Chinese export growth that easily exceeded expectations, underscoring the need for strong stimulus.
“China has economic problems,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York. “Oil prices are yet another indication of the lack of confidence that China will be able to pull itself together on its own strings, especially since the details of the stimulus measures are so vague.”
The bond market was closed for Columbus Day, and there were no earnings reports or economic data to impact investor sentiment.
That will change later this week, including retail sales, industrial production and residential/building permits.
Key earnings for the rest of the week include Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Netflix (NASDAQ:), along with a host of healthcare and industrial names.
The S&P 500 rose 203.14 points, or 0.47%, to 43,067.00, the S&P 500 rose 45.17 points, or 0.78%, to 5,860.20 and the S&P 500 rose 159.75 points, or 0.87%, to 18,502.69.
European shares hit a two-week high at the end of a choppy session as investors largely shrugged off China’s stimulus plans and focused on earnings season and a European Central Bank policy meeting later this week.
The MSCI index for shares around the world rose 4.37 points, or 0.51%, to 857.10.
The index rose 0.53%, while the broad European index rose 11.55 points or 0.56%.
Emerging market stocks rose 0.21 points, or 0.02%, to 1,159.77. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.02% lower at 613.46, while rising 224.91 points, or 0.57%, to 39,605.80.
The dollar hit a 10-week high against a basket of world currencies, extending a run fueled by economic data that supported modest interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The , which measures the dollar against a basket of currencies including the yen and euro, rose 0.18% to 103.23, while the euro fell 0.31% to $1.0903. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar rose 0.42% to 149.76.
Crude oil prices fell as OPEC cut its oil demand growth expectations for 2024 and 2025, while Chinese oil imports fell for the fifth straight month.
fell 2.29% to $73.83 per barrel, while falling to $77.46 per barrel, down 2.00% on the day.
Gold fell from a one-week high, in contrast to the dollar’s strength.
fell 0.12% to $2,652.68 an ounce. The US fell 0.09% to $2,655.30 an ounce.
