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Stocks - Chips Power S&P 500 Above 3000; Boeing Hinders Dow

Published 21/10/2019, 20:53
© Reuters.
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Investing.com – Stocks moved higher on Monday in a rally powered by gains in chip stocks. The S&P 500 finally topped 3,000 for the first time in a month.

The S&P finished up 0.69%, with Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) among the leaders. The index has been held back since mid-July by trade and economic worries and it finished the day 0.84% below its July high.

The Nasdaq Composite and the Nasdaq 100 indexes each rose 0.91%.

The Dow Jones industrials rose 0.21%, but the gain was held back by a 3.76% decline in shares of Boeing (NYSE:BA).

Boeing's fall to $331.06, which subtracted 88 points from the blue-chip index, was due to continuing controversy about problems with the grounded 737 MAX airliner. Three brokerages ( Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN), UBS and Robert W. Baird) downgraded the stock. Boeing is down nearly 13% this month, but still up 2.65% for the year.

Chip stocks led the market on optimism that a trade deal might finally be negotiated between the United States and China. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was up 1.88%.

President Donald Trump said progress in the negotiations was being made.

The hope is that any deal, even a modest one, will open up Chinese markets to semiconductors from U.S. companies.

The Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 were also boosted by Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) 1.73% gain after Raymond James analyst Chris Caso boosted his target price for the stock to $280 from $250.

Apple hit a new all-time high of $240.99 after the target boost before falling back. It cemented its position as world's most valuable company with a market capitalization of $1.087 trillion.

Apple moved past Microsoft market cap last week. Its shares are up 15% since the end of August and 52.4% for the year.

Microsoft was up 0.74% and had a market cap of $1.057 trillion. Its shares are up 36% on the year.

The software giant reports fiscal-first-quarter earnings after Wednesday's close in a heavy week of earnings reports.

Apple reports fiscal-fourth-quarter results after the Oct. 30 close.

While chips got all the attention, energy stocks were the strongest performing sector, even as oil prices drifted lower. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 36 cents to $53.51. Brent crude dropped 46 cents to $58.96.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) each rose more than 1.6%.

Coty (NYSE:COTY) jumped more than 13% after announcing it wants to sell a number of beauty-product brands acquired from Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) in 2016. Best known are the Clairol and Covergirl lines.

Banks also were strong performers as interest rates moved higher. Also rising were department stores Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) and Macy’s (NYSE:M).

Big drug distribution companies, including AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) were lower after settling an Ohio lawsuit charging them with abetting the opioid crisis.

Gold also slipped $6 to $1,488.10 an ounce in futures trading in New York. Interest rates were higher as investors moved into stocks from bonds. The 10-Year Treasury yield rose to 1.801% from 1.75% on Friday.

Coty (NYSE:COTY), oil-services giant Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), Helmerich and Payne (NYSE:HP) and EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG) were among the top S&P 500 companies.

Boeing (NYSE:BA), CME Group (NASDAQ:CME), AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC) and McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) were the worst S&P 500 performers. Boeing was also the weakest Dow stock.

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