USA: S&P 500 hits intraday record; closes shy of record close while the Nasdaq climbs to a 14-year high

Record ID: 187320

  • Title: USA: S&P 500 hits intraday record; closes shy of record close while the Nasdaq climbs to a 14-year high
  • Date: 24th February 2014
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 21, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BEN WILLIS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ALBERT FRIED, SAYING: "Investors around the world realize that the world economy is improving. Even with China selling off earlier today, the fact that their real estate grew at nine percent - it's still a positive number no matter how you want to cut it up. But that being said the money that flowed into the American market - buyers wanted to buy stock - and the market rallied because there are very few sellers. Light volume on the trading day, this market continued to march higher as we went through the day."
  • Embargoed: 11th March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Finance
  • Reuters ID: LVA3YE1LR3CLIIC7RY59EBEUIPXG
  • Story Text: U.S. stocks rose on Monday (February 24) and the S&P 500 hit a record intraday high, helped by gains in health insurers' shares and optimism about merger activity.
    The Nasdaq reached a 14-year high, though all three indexes closed off their highs for the day, with the S&P 500 finishing less than a point away from its record closing high of 1,848.38.

    "Investors around the world realize that the world economy is improving," said Ben Willis, the managing director of Albert Fried.

    "Even with China selling off earlier today, the fact that their real estate grew at nine percent - it's still a positive number no matter how you want to cut it up. But that being said the money that flowed into the American market - buyers wanted to buy stock - and the market rallied because there are very few sellers. Light volume on the trading day, this market continued to march higher as we went through the day."
    Humana Inc and UnitedHealth Group ranked among the S&P 500's biggest percentage gainers, with Humana's stock jumping 10.6 percent to $113.69 (USD) after it said the government's proposed cuts to the private Medicare program appeared to be less than it had forecast. UnitedHealth shares rose 3 percent to $76.01 Aetna Inc rose 2 percent to close at $71.80 after giving a 2014 earnings outlook.
    Weak recent economic data has largely been blamed on harsh winter weather, which has kept investors hopeful that the pickup in the economy remains intact. The latest data showed the Chicago Fed National Activity index fell to -0.39 in January from 0.16 in December while financial data firm Markit's preliminary February reading on the services sector fell to 52.7 from 56.7.
    The Dow Jones industrial average rose 103.84 points or 0.64 percent, to close at 16,207.14. The S&P 500 gained 11.36 points or 0.62 percent, to end at 1,847.61, after rising to an intraday record of 1,858.71.
    The Nasdaq Composite added 29.558 points or 0.69 percent, to finish at 4,292.968.
    The S&P 500 broke above resistance at 1,841, which propelled further gains.
    Many traders are looking ahead to Thursday (February 27), when Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will speak to the Senate Banking Committee in her semi-annual testimony about monetary policy.
    Yellen's comments will be scoured for insight into the extent to which bad weather has affected economic activity, as well as for confirmation that the Fed will not make any changes to its schedule for trimming stimulus.
    About 6.8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the 7 billion average so far this month, according to data from BATS Global Markets.
    Advancers beat decliners on the New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of about 1.6 to 1 and on the Nasdaq by about 1.8 to 1.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register