Major stock markets in New York closed at record highs Thursday amid a broad rally from banks, materials and technology companies.
The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 65.19 points at 19,614.81, while the S&P 500 added 4.84 points at 2,246.19, both hitting all-time highs for a second day in a row.
Banks and materials companies logged the biggest gains, with New York City-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. clocking in the largest advance on the Dow.
Goldman has surged 33% since the U.S. election last month.
Financial institutions have been big winners following the surprise victory of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, whom investors believe will want to deregulate the banking industry once he assumes the office at the White House.
Banks have also been helped by rising bond yields in the U.S. and Europe, which sent interest rates higher, making loans more profitable.
The surge came after the European Central Bank (ECB) surprised investors by saying it will reduce the size of its monthly bond purchases starting in March. The ECB still expects to spend US$579 billion on purchases into 2017.
Although it did not hint at when it will stop the stimulus program, the decrease has investors thinking the ECB will gradually stop buying bonds and will start raising interest rates in response to a healthier economy.
The Nasdaq composite also set a record, adding 23.60 points at 5,417.36.
Susan Da Sie, a senior portfolio manager at Toronto-based Manulife Asset Management Ltd., says that Trump’s election has been viewed as positive due to his desire to lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to between 15% to 20%, as well as his views on the repatriation of corporate money held overseas.
Lower corporate tax rates would mean bigger profits for U.S. companies, which would see strength on their balance sheets. Repatriation would result in more taxes for the U.S. government and Da Sie says it’s estimated that firms have as much as US$2 trillion abroad.
But stock markets may be getting ahead of themselves because Trump hasn’t even been inaugurated to the Oval Office yet, she cautions. The brash billionaire is set to be sworn in on Jan. 20.
“Obviously, he is a very unpredictable person so we don’t really know what is going to be done,” Da Sie says. “There is a lot that is uncertain but there is also a mandate for change.”
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index gained 57.45 points at 15,295.20 amid higher oil prices.
The January crude oil contract climbed $1.07 to US$50.84 per barrel, as the Canadian dollar added 0.26 of a U.S. cent at 75.81 cents US.
Other commodity markets were negative as the February gold contract dropped $5.10 at US$1,172.40 per ounce; March copper contracts lost two cents at US$2.63 per pound; and January natural gas was up nine cents at US$3.70 per mmBTU.
– With files from The Associated Press