Wall Street stocks rose to record highs yesterday, boosted by expectations for continued monetary policy easing around the globe and a jolt in oil prices, which jumped on speculation the world’s top producers may be open to a production cut.
The US S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq stock indexes all hit all-time intraday highs in early trading.
A strong US monthly jobs report on August 5 boosted optimism about the US economy, driving all three major indexes to close at record levels last Thursday – the first time that has happened since 1999.
The S&P 500 index has notched 13 record intraday highs since July, including Monday’s.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 86.32 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 18,662.79, the S&P 500 gained 9.53 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 2,193.58 and the Nasdaq Composite added 34.87 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 5,267.76.
The jump in US equities helped underpin markets in London and Frankfurt, which added to gains and were up 0.5 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively. The pan-European FTSE 300 was edged up 0.1 per cent.