All three major indexes gained 0.7% apiece, as the Dow jumped 121 points to a new all-time closing high and the S&P 500 built upon its record close notched Monday.
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Oil prices bounced back slightly after tumbling more than 4 percent on Wednesday, erasing most of the previous session’s gain, as a run of bearish USA inventory data heightened concerns about a global glut.
Earnings per share for companies in the S&P 500 index are expected to fall 5.4 percent for the second quarter, the fourth-straight quarterly drop, according to research firm S&P Global Market Intelligence. The S&P 500 Index (NYSEARCA:SPY) reached new highs, climbing 0.7% to 2,152.14.
Australia’s ASX 200 was up 0.32%, boosted by a 0.59% increase in the heavily-weighted financials sub-index.
Investors’ appetite for equities has increased after a stronger-than-expected United States jobs report for June last Friday and low yields on government bonds.
His meeting on Tuesday with former U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, a proponent of “helicopter money” policies – printing money and directly handing it to the private sector to stimulate the economy – fuelled speculation Abe’s stimulus could be funded by the Bank of Japan’s easing. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were last at 1.473 per cent after hitting a 1-1/2-week high of 1.531 percent on Tuesday as higher yields attracted buyers.
The stock market has been building momentum, said Matt Maley, an equity strategist in NY at Miller Tabak & Co LLC. However, the FTSE 100 ended lower as the pound strengthened somewhat. New records were also made on Monday and Tuesday after a better-than-expected U.S.jobs report brought relief over the state of the USA economy.
The Dow was up 119 points, or 0.7 percent, to 18,346.
The tech-focused Nasdaq, like the other indices, posted a 0.7 percent gain, and finished at 5,022.82.
The Dow is down 22 points (0.12%), the S&P 500 is down 4 points (0.19%) and the Nasdaq is down 15 % (0.31%). Shares of Citigroup rose 93 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $43.44.
JPMorgan Chase rose 96 cents, or 1.5 percent to $64.12.
Stocks have crawled their way back into record territory after beginning 2016 with Wall Street’s worst start ever to a year and the S&P 500 has jumped more than 16% since its February 11 closing low. Brent crude, a standard for worldwide oil prices, rose 73 cents to $46.98 a barrel in London. Apache lost 1.7 percent, Devon Energy 2.5 percent and Baker Hughes 1.2 percent.
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The dollar hit a almost three-week high against the yen of ¥105,93 on the greater risk appetite, while sterling hit a two-week high of $1.3480 after the BoE decision. Brent crude, a standard for global oil prices, rose $1.99 to $48.24 a barrel in London. They fell sharply in January and early February on fears that a slowdown in Chinese economic growth would drag the rest of the world into recession, then rose again, the fell after the shock of Britain’s vote.
