Stocks climbed Monday, with the Dow reaching a record high, as investors prepared for an important week for inflation-related economic data releases following the weekend passage of President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 105 points, or 0.29%, to 36,433, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.16%, and the Nasdaq gained 0.24% at last check.
“The stock market kicked off November the way it wrapped up October — with bulls in charge,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading, E*Trade Financial. “Boosted by a vote of confidence from the Fed, the S&P hit new record highs each day to log its strongest week since June and sent small-caps higher.”
Larkin added that “we don’t have a crystal ball to predict the next pullback, but with the market continuing to push to new highs, traders should be prepared for the possibility of the old adage, ‘what goes up must come down’, becoming a reality.”
Stocks ended last week on a high note, with the S&P 500 extending its advance to a fifth consecutive week thanks in part to a stronger-than-expected reading for October jobs gains, dovish signaling from the Federal Reserve on interest rates and a solid corporate earnings season.
In company news, United States Steel (X) – Get United States Steel Corporation Report jumped, leading solid gains for its sector rivals, after lawmakers passed a $1 trillion “once in a generation” infrastructure bill that will direct billions of investments into roads, rail and public transportation.
Alphabet (GOOGL) – Get Alphabet Inc. Class A Report shares traded at a record high Monday, lifting the value of the Google parent company past $2 trillion for the first time, joining Apple (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. (AAPL) Report and Microsoft (MSFT) – Get Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Report as the only American companies to have passed that historic threshold.
Ether continued its record-setting rally, surpassing $4,700 for the first time, as the cryptocurrency that runs on the Ethereum blockchain continued to both ride bitcoin’s coattails and attract retail and institutional interest amid inflation concerns.
Bitcoin traded higher after briefly topping $66,000 overnight on Sunday with an eye to breaching its previous record of $66,975 reached on Oct. 20.
Meanwhile, Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report slumped after founder and CEO Elon Musk indicated he could sell around 10% of his stake in the clean-energy carmaker.