Wall Street closses day with robust gains as risk appetite returns
Major equity indexes in the U.S. recorded substantial gains on Monday as easing concerns over North Korea and Irma's potential negative impact on the economic growth allowed the market sentiment to improve. The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, Wall Street's fear gauge, dropped more than 10%.
“The fear that the hurricane was going to be this massive disaster has receded. And that’s really helping the sector,” Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York, told Reuters. Insurers' shares, which came under a heavy selling pressure in the second half of the previous week, staged a strong rebound with Universal Insurance Holdings and Heritage Insurance adding 12% and 21% respectively. The S&P 500 financial index .SPSY gained more than 1.5% on the day.
Led by gains in Apple and Tesla shares, the technology sector provided an additional boost to the indexes. Apple rose nearly 2% as investors priced tomorrow's new iPhone launch while news about China looking to ban vehicles using traditional fuels lifted Tesla's shares more than 5% higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.19% to close the day at 22,057.12 points while the S&P 500 closed at its all time high at 2,487.1 points, up 1%. Finally, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1.11% to 6,430.77.
Headlines from the U.S. session:
- US Dollar extends gains towards 92 amid upsurge in US T-bond yields
- NY Fed: Year-ahead inflation expectations remain unchanged
- WTI drops to $47 as Irma is expected to weigh on US demand
- US: Retail sales unlikely to repeat July's 0.6% rise - BBH
- Has the US 10-year Treasury yield bottomed out?
- Gold tumbles to fresh session lows around $1330 on high risk-appetite
- EUR/USD drops further toward the 1.1950 zone
- USD/JPY touches 109 as US stocks rally