US STOCKS-S&P 500 ends at record high as Wall Street rises

Reuters · 03/15/2021 20:00
US STOCKS-S&P 500 ends at record high as Wall Street rises

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Eli Lily drops after 'mixed' data from mid-stage trial

Carriers signal recovery in leisure bookings

Growth stocks beat value

Updates with close of trading

By Noel Randewich

- Wall Street climbed on Monday, with the S&P 500 closing at a record high, as investors awaited cues from the Federal Reserve this week amid caution over rising borrowing costs spurred by massive fiscal stimulus.

In a concrete sign that the worst of the damage from the coronavirus pandemic may be over for the airline industry, Delta Air Lines DAL.N, Southwest Airlines LUV.N and JetBlue Airways JBLU.N said leisure bookings were rising. nL1N2LD0WF

The S&P 1500 airlines index .SPCOMAIR jumped to a one-year high, while other travel-related stocks, including Carnival Corp CCL.N, Wynn Resorts WYNN.O and MGM Resorts MGM.N also gained.

Most of the 11 major S&P sector indexes rose, led by utilities .SPLRCU and real estate .SPLRCR.

Major stock indexes on Friday logged their best week in six after mass vaccinations and congressional approval of a $1.9 trillion aid bill accelerated demand for stocks expected to outperform as the economy reopens, such as banks, energy, materials companies.

The Russell growth index .RLG outperformed the Russell value index .RLV in a modest reversal of investors' recent trend away from technology and other high-growth stocks.

"With the vaccine positive news and the stimulus, we think there will continue to be a fair amount of rotation out of the stay-at-home stocks," said Greg Bassuk, CEO of AXS Investments. "We are bullish on financial services and energy coming out of the pandemic."

At the end of Fed's two-day meeting on Wednesday, policymakers are expected to forecast that the U.S. economy will grow in 2021 at its fastest rate in decades while reiterating their dovish stance for the foreseeable future. nL1N2L82OT

The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries US10YT=RR ticked lower to 1.60%, below its 13-month peak of 1.64% on Friday. Wall Street has been roiled in recent weeks by a spike in longer-dated U.S. bond yields due to fears of an increase in inflation.

Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 173.64 points, or 0.53%, to 32,952.28, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 25.43 points, or 0.64%, to 3,968.77 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 139.84 points, or 1.05%, to 13,459.71.

Tesla > rose after the company added "Technoking of Tesla" to Chief Executive Elon Musk's list of official titles in a formal regulatory filing. nL4N2LD2W1

Eli Lilly and Co shares LLY.N slumped around after a mid-stage trial testing its experimental Alzheimer's drug led to "mixed" results, reducing the chances for the drug's accelerated approval, according to analysts. nL1N2LA30T


(Reporting by Noel Randewich in Oakland, Calif.; additional reporting by Shashank Nayar and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

((noel.randewich@tr.com; (415) 677 2542, Twitter: @randewich))