(FILES) This file photo taken on January 7, 2016 shows the corner of Wall and Broad Street across from the New York Stock Exchange. US stocks opened little changed August 1, 2016, launching a week of key corporate earnings and economic data culminating with the July jobs report. Dow members Pfizer and Procter & Gambler report earnings August 2, while the August 5 July jobs report is expected to show the US added 185,000 jobs last month. / AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARY
NEW YORK: The S&P 500 hit a record intraday high on Monday, led by tech stocks such as Apple and Google-parent Alphabet, but a drop in oil prices weighed on energy stocks.
The index has been on a record-breaking rally - helped by largely positive data and strong earnings - and hit an intraday high for the seventh time in July on Friday.
The S&P 500 gained 3.65 in July, lifting its valuation well above historical levels.
Oil prices fell about 2.3% due to an increase in Opec production and US oil rig additions. Exxon and Chevron were down 2.15 and 1.6%, respectively. The stocks were the biggest drags on the S&P and Dow.
Apple’s 1.25 rise provided the biggest boost to the three main indexes. The stock has gained more than 9% since reporting results last week.
“The economic data until last week had been pretty decent but since the GDP numbers came out, we’re seeing holes in the argument that the second half of the year is going to be better,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.
Growth in US gross domestic product in the second quarter unexpectedly remained tepid and came in below expectations.
Data on Monday showed US manufacturing activity slowed in July as orders fell broadly and construction spending dropped in June.
The chance of an interest rate hike by the end of the year fell to about 33% after the GDP numbers were released, according to CME Fedwatch, from about 50% early last week.
At 11:18am ET (1518 GMT), the S&P 500 was up 4.22 points, or 0.19%, at 2,177.82. The index is trading near 17.4 times forward 12-month earnings, above the 10-year median of 14.7 times, according to StarMine data.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 30.23 points, or 0.16%, at 18,462.47, while the Nasdaq Composite index was up 35.38 points, or 0.69%, at 5,197.51.
Seven of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, with the health index’s 0.635 rise leading the advancers.
Biogen’s 55 rise provided the biggest boost to the sector.
SolarCity fell 4.8% to US$25.41 after Tesla said the two companies had agreed to merge. Tesla was little changed at US$235.12.
Fleetmatics jumped 38.8% to US$59.62 after Verizon said it would buy the GPS vehicle tracking company for about US$2.4bil. Verizon was down 0.8% at US$54.93 Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,535 to 1,314. On the Nasdaq, 1,588 issues rose and 1,067 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 29 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 70 new highs and 13 new lows. - Reuters
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