- Title: Wall Street up as data points to strong economy
- Date: 5th December 2016
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CONVERGEX CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, NICHOLAS COLAS, SAYING: "You finally have a steepening yield curve. You have the promise of some deregulation in the space potentially next year. As a result, we've seen over 9 billion dollars of money flow into financials, just U.S. financials, over the past month, the most of any of the sectors in the S&P. So it clearly is a crowd favorite and I think rightly so. And valuations are still not stretched there which you can't say about the rest of the market. "
- Embargoed: 20th December 2016 21:16
- Keywords: NYSE stocks trading markets Convergex Nicholas Colas financials Dow rally Trump
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA0025BLZNV1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Wall Street rose on Monday (December 5), with the Dow Jones industrials setting fresh record highs, as services sector data gave further evidence of strength in the domestic economy.
U.S. services sector activity hit a one-year high in November, with a surge in production boosting hiring, following on the heels of Friday's (December 2) employment report that showed strong job gains last month.
U.S. stocks have climbed since the Nov. 8 election, fueled by expectations of significant economic stimulus and cuts in corporate taxes and regulations under President-elect Donald Trump.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 45.82 points, or 0.24 percent, to 19,216.24, the S&P 500 gained 12.76 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,204.71 and the Nasdaq Composite added 53.24 points, or 1.01 percent, to 5,308.89.
The Dow, which closed at a record and minted a new intraday peak, has topped the other major indexes since the election, as investors have rotated into the financial and industrial sectors.
Financials .SPSY gained 1.2 percent on Monday and were the best-performing major S&P sector. Goldman Sachs GS.N shares rose 2.3 percent after HSBC initiated coverage with a "buy" rating.
"You finally have a steepening yield curve. You have the promise of some deregulation in the space potentially next year. As a result we've seen over 9 billion dollars of money flow into financials, just U.S. financials, over the past month, the most of any of the sectors in the S&P. So it clearly is a crowd favorite and I think rightly so. And valuations are still not stretched there which you can't say about the rest of the market," said Nicholas Colas, Convergex chief market strategist.
Monday's economic data reinforced the view that the Federal Reserve is primed to raise interest rates next week, benefiting banks.
Big tech names also lifted the S&P 500 and helped the Nasdaq outperform on Monday. Amazon.com rose 2.6 percent as it said it opened a brick-and-mortar grocery store in Seattle without lines or checkout counters.
Health insurers Aetna and Humana fell 3 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively, as a trial over their proposed merger kicked off. The health sector fell 0.2 percent and was the worst-performing group.
About 7.1 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, below the 7.9 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.59-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.14-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 52 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 232 new highs and 29 new lows. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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