The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record highs on Monday, as investors eyed an economic recovery from the coronavirus and awaited cues from the Federal Reserve this week amid caution over rising borrowing costs.
In a concrete sign that the worst of the damage from the coronavirus pandemic may be over for the airline industry, DeltaAir Lines, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways said leisure bookings were rising.
Gains in the major indexes accelerated near the end of the trading session.
The S&P 1500 airlines index jumped over 4% to a one-year high, while other travel-related stocks, including Carnival Corp, Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts jumped between 2% and 5%.
Nine of the 11 major S&P sector indexes rose, led by utilities and real estate, each up more than 1%.
It was the Dow's sixth straight record high close in a recent surge fuelled by mass vaccinations and congressional approval of a $1.9 trillion aid bill. Expectations of a recovery accelerated demand for stocks expected to outperform as the economy reopens, such as banks, energy, materials companies.
On Monday, the Russell growth index outperformed the Russell value index in a modest reversal of investors' recent trend away from technology and other high-growth stocks.
The S&P 500 has gained almost 6% in 2021, while the Dow has added nearly 8%.
At the end of Fed's two-day meeting on Wednesday,policy makers are expected to forecast that the U.S. economy willgrow in 2021 at its fastest rate in decades while reiteratingtheir dovish stance for the foreseeable future.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries ticked lower to 1.60%, below its 13-month peak of 1.64% on Friday. Wall Street has been roiled in recent weeks by a spike inlonger-dated U.S. bond yields due to fears of an increase ininflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53% to end at 32,953.46 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.65% to3,968.94.
The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.05% to 13,459.71. It remains down almost 5% from its February 12 record high close.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 12.5 billion shares, comparedwith the 14.5 billion average for the full session over the last20 trading days.
Tesla rose about 2% after the company dubbed Chief Executive Elon Musk "Technoking of Tesla" in a formal regulatory filing.
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