Retailers climb, lifting U.S. stocks to more all-time highs

US. stocks were climbing for the sixth day in a row Thursday as strong quarterly results from retailers including Best Buy and PVH give consumer-focused companies a lift. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite were at all-time highs in late-morning trading. Stocks were stretching for their longest winning streak in three months.
KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 11 points, or 0.5%, to 2,415 as of 11:25 a.m. EDT. It set an all-time high Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 87 points, or 0.4%, to 21,099. The Nasdaq composite jumped 41 points, or 0.7%, to 6,203, above the record it notched last week. The Russell 2000 index advanced 5 points, or 0.4%, to 1,387.
Unlike the other major indexes, the Russell 2000 has not recouped all of its losses from Wednesday of last week, the stock market’s worst day of the year. The index is composed of smaller and more domestically focused companies, and new challenges to President Trump’s proposed agenda of reduced taxes and regulations have hit those companies harder than the larger and more established companies on other indexes.
BUY, BUY, BUY: Electronics retailer Best Buy jumped 17.9% to $59.46 after it issued a strong first-quarter report, including better sales of mobile devices and gaming products.
PVH, the owner of brands including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, climbed 5.4% to $107.48 after it raised its annual forecasts following its own strong report.
Jeans maker Guess leaped 15.4% to $11.52 after its announcement.
Other retailers including Abercrombie & Fitch and Burlington Stores also made substantial gains.
Online retailer Amazon approached $1,000 a share for the first time. Amazon was up 1.6% at $996.09.
TECH ON TOP: Technology companies made significant gains as well. Microsoft rose 1% to $69.46, Google parent Alphabet went up 1.1% to $988.14, and Apple advanced 52 cents to $153.86.
OIL: Crude oil prices slid for the second day in a row as the members of OPEC and other key oil-producing nations met in Vienna to discuss extending their production cut from last year.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 63 cents, or 1.2%, to $50.74 a barrel in New York, and Brent crude, the international standard, fell 50 cents to $53.46 a barrel in London.
Shortly thereafter, the nations agreed to extend their output cuts for an additional nine months.
DRINKING ALONE: Jack Daniels maker Brown-Forman slumped 4.5% to $51.90 after it put out a statement saying the company is not for sale and plans to remain a family-controlled company.
The stock had jumped Monday on reports that Constellation Brands, which makes Corona and Modelo beers, might try to buy Brown-Forman. Constellation Brands rose $1.57 to $180.40.
TALKING TURKEY: Spam maker Hormel Foods sank 5.1% to $33.59 as the company said its Jennie-O turkey business continued to struggle in the second quarter. The company’s income and sales both fell short of Wall Street projections.
BONDS: Bond prices edged down. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.26%, from 2.25%.
CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 111.83 yen, from 111.90 yen. The euro rose to $1.1215, from $1.1195.
OVERSEAS: Germany’s DAX was down 0.1% and the French CAC 40 and the FTSE 100 index in Britain were unchanged. The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo climbed 0.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rallied 0.8%. The Kospi of South Korea jumped 1%.


Article by Associated Press