New All-Time Highs for S&P, NASDAQ



Stocks rose on Monday as Wall Street looked for the market’s rally to record highs to resume amid increasing expectations that China and the U.S. will reach a so-called phase one trade deal.

The Dow Jones Industrials spiked 122.07 points to 27,997.69, and remained within 0.5% of reaching its all-time high.

The S&P 500 strengthened 19.19 points to 3,129.48, the highest it’s ever been.

The NASDAQ vaulted 99.92 points to 8,619.80, a new all-time peak.

Tech was the best-performing sector in the S&P 500, rising 1.2%. Nvidia led the sector higher with a 4.2% gain. Intel’s 1.6% advance led the Dow higher. The NASDAQ was lifted by a 1% rise in Apple shares while Amazon traded 1.6% higher.

The S&P 500 is up nearly 25% in 2019, and is headed for its biggest one-year gain since 2013. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, has rallied nearly 30% year to date, on pace for its best yearly performance in six years. The Dow is up 20% year to date. That would be the 30-stock averages best annual gain since 2017.

Sentiment also got a lift on Monday after two big deals in Corporate America were confirmed.

Charles Schwab confirmed it will acquire rival TD Ameritrade for $26 billion in an all-stock deal. The deal, upon completion, will create a new company with more than $5 trillion in assets. TD Ameritrade shares rose 2.7% while Schwab’s stock dipped 1.4%.

LVMH has reached a deal to buy jeweler Tiffany for $16.2 billion in cash, or $135 per share. The acquisition is expected to close in the middle of 2020. Tiffany shares advanced 5.8%.

Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury moved slightly upward, lowering yields to 1.76% from Friday’s 1.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices regained six cents to $57.83 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices dipped $6.30 to $1,457.30 U.S. an ounce.