US Stocks on Track to Close at Records for Third Day in Row
New York (Feb 13) The Dow Jones Industrial Average led Wall Street's gains on Monday on leftover goodwill from last week's Trump-inspired rally.
The Dow gained 0.66%, the S&P 500 was up 0.51%, and the Nasdaq added 0.53%. The S&P 500 reached $20 trillion in value for the first time on Monday.
The ope gainers on the Dow were Caterpillar (CAT) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) .
Apple (AAPL) rode on market momentum to trade close to its all-time intraday high of $134.54. The stock traded as high as $133.82 on Monday. Apple was on track to close above a record high set in February 2015.
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Apple was also riding high after UBS analysts noted that its services business was currently undervalued. UBS analyst Steven Milunovich said on Monday that Apple's shares would be at least 10% higher if its services arm was valued like PayPal's businesses.
Wall Street rallied to new heights last week as Donald Trump made vague promises of tax reform, hopes for which had given markets a big boost in the two months after the U.S. election in November. Trump said he would deliver a tax reform plan in the near future.
The president on Thursday, in a meeting with airline and airport executives, said that lowering the overall tax burden on American businesses was important, adding, "We're going to announce something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax."
Markets initially rallied following Trump's surprise victory in November as investors hoped for infrastructure spending, tax cuts, and loosened financial regulations. However, the Trump rally hit the skids following his January inauguration as geopolitical uncertainty, particularly in the wake of a controversial and unconstitutional travel ban, made for market waves. The travel ban, which affected seven Muslim-majority nations, was deemed unconstitutional last week by judges in the 9th Circuit.
On Friday, all three major U.S. stock indexes closed at records for their second day in a row. The Nasdaq ended with its fourth straight closing record on Friday.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Washington on Monday to meet with the president. The meeting could illuminate the U.S.'s ongoing participation in the North American Fair Trade Agreement, as well as the two countries' stances on the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline's development had been blocked by the Obama White House.
Trump-branded products continue to face the brunt of a largely divisive election campaign. Sears (SHLD) and Kmart announced they would drop 31 Trump Home lines due to weak profitability, following in Nordstrom's (JWN) footsteps. Nordstrom recently dropped Ivanka Trump's fashion line after a 32% slump in sales in the last fiscal year.
Basic materials stocks were among the best performers on Monday. Chemours (CC) led the way after agreeing to split the $335.4 million settlement in personal-injury lawsuits with former parent DuPont (DD) . Lawsuits were tied to toxic chemicals in a West Virginian plant. Other materials stocks such as Rio Tinto (RIO) and Vale (VALE) were also higher.
Verizon (VZ) , the largest wireless provider in the U.S., will begin offering plans with unlimited data starting Monday. Other telecoms including Sprint (S) had been gaining ground on the competitor with their own unlimited data plans. The stock fell 1%, while AT&T (T) , Sprint, and T-Mobile (TMUS) also logged losses.
Allergan (AGN) rose 0.6% after agreeing to acquire Zeltiq Aesthetics (ZLTQ) , a company specializing in fat-reduction technology, in a deal worth $2.475 billion. The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of this year. Shares of Zeltiq rose 12.9%.
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Williams-Sonoma (WSM) was downgraded to market perform from outperform at Telsey Advisory. Promotional activity is increasing and it will likely take longer for a turnaround at Pottery Barn, Telsey said.
Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) climbed 5.4% on Monday after reaffirming its fiscal 2017 guidance. The drugmaker anticipates full-year revenue between $23.8 billion and $24.5 billion and adjusted earnings of $4.90 to $5.30 a share.
Crude oil prices returned to session lows on Monday morning despite proof Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries largely kept to a production cut agreement that went into effect in January. OPEC members and 11 other countries agreed to reduce production by 1.2 million barrels a day in an agreement reached in November. OPEC said Monday that countries reduced their output by 890,000 barrels a day in January, a 74% compliance rate.
West Texas Intermediate crude was down 1.6% to $52.98 a barrel on Monday.
Source: TheSteet
