Closing Stock Market SummaryThe stock market finished strong on Monday, with shares of mega-cap technology companies propelling the S&P 500 (+0.7%) and Nasdaq Composite (+1.1%) to new closing records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.6%) and Russell 2000 (+0.7%) performed in-line with the S&P 500.
Three names largely behind today's advance were Amazon (AMZN 2133.91, +54.63, +2.6%), Microsoft (MSFT 188.70, +4.81, +2.6%), and Alphabet (GOOG 1508.68, +29.45, +2.0%), which each rose at least 2.0%. Investors presumably remained assured that these tech giants offered a good mix of growth and safety, especially amid the coronavirus outbreak.
In turn, the consumer discretionary (+1.3%) and information technology (+1.4%) sectors were among the sector leaders, as well as the defensive-oriented real estate sector (+1.2%). The energy sector (-0.8%) continued to underperform, as WTI crude ($49.57/bbl, -0.78, -1.6%) fell back below $50/bbl amid lingering concerns about end-demand due to the coronavirus.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 52.26, +2.53, +5.1%) outperformed following a speculative report that Apple (AAPL 321.55, +1.52, +0.5%) could use its chips instead of Intel's (INTC 66.39, +0.37, +0.6%) in future Macs. IBM (IBM 154.43, +1.02, +0.7%) will reportedly deploy Slack's (WORK 26.57, +3.58, +15.6%) platform for all its employees.
In M&A activity, Taubman Centers (TCO 53.12, +18.45, +53.2%) agreed to be acquired by Simon Property (SPG 143.06, +2.04, +1.5%) for $52.50/share in cash. Xerox (XRX 37.69, +0.52, +1.4%) increased its offer to acquire HP Inc. (HPQ 21.90, +0.17, +0.8%) by $2.00 to $24.00/share in cash and stock.
U.S. Treasuries posted modest gains, pushing yields lower across the curve. The 2-yr yield declined one basis point to 1.38%, and the 10-yr yield declined three basis points to 1.55%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.2% to 98.85.
Investors did not receive any notable economic data on Monday. Looking ahead, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index for January and the JOLTS - Job Openings report for December will be released on Tuesday.
- Nasdaq Composite +7.3% YTD
- S&P 500 +3.8% YTD
- Dow Jones Industrial Average +2.6% YTD
- Russell 2000 -0.1% YTD