Stocks Rise to New Highs on Senate Deal to End Shutdown
January 22 2018 - 2:58PM
Dow Jones News
By Akane Otani and Riva Gold
-- Senate has votes to end government shutdown
-- U.S. stocks climb to session highs
-- Dollar, government bonds edge lower
U.S. stocks rose to fresh highs Monday after Senate leaders said
they reached a deal to end the federal government shutdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 60 points, or 0.2%, to
26131. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite rose
0.7%, with all three indexes heading toward record closes.
Investors had largely shrugged off the shutdown, which began
after the Senate rejected a one-month spending bill late Friday
night and by Monday afternoon looked close to ending. U.S.
government bonds inched lower, while the WSJ Dollar Index, which
tracks the dollar against a basket of 16 other currencies, ticked
down 0.1%.
Economic growth around the world has been solid, helping stocks
keep powering higher, even after Congress came to a standstill over
legislation in Washington. Investors have also largely bet that the
Federal Reserve will stick to a gradual course of interest-rate
increases in 2018 -- something they say should help stocks trading
near records continue their ascent.
"The market has blinders on," said Kristina Hooper, chief global
market strategist at Invesco. "The focus is on sentiment, and with
tax cuts and global growth, you've got plenty of things investors
feel good about."
Broad gains across sectors helped offset a decline in shares of
industrial and materials companies on Monday.
Shares of energy companies in the S&P 500 rose 1.8%,
following U.S. crude-oil prices higher. Halliburton Co., Noble
Energy Inc. and Schlumberger NV added more than 2% apiece.
Meanwhile, reports of corporate deals swung biotechnology
shares.
Sanofi shares fell 3.4% after the French drugmaker said Monday
it would buy hemophilia drugmaker Bioverativ Inc. for more than
$11.5 billion.
Juno Therapeutics shares jumped 27% after Celgene said it agreed
to buy the firm for about $9 billion, while Celgene shares were
little changed.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 edged up 0.3%, boosted by a rise
in shares of oil-and-gas companies and banks.
Shares of UBS Group lagged behind, however, falling 1.2% after
the Swiss bank said charges related to the U.S. corporate tax
overhaul pushed it into a fourth-quarter loss.
Stock indexes in Asia showed little reaction to the partial U.S.
shutdown. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was flat, while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng Index rose 0.4% to another record close.
Shares of some Apple suppliers declined across the region,
however, dragging down some tech-heavy indexes.
South Korea's Kospi fell 0.7% amid a 2.2% drop in shares of
index heavyweight Samsung Electronics. The company's stock fell
against a backdrop of increased caution over demand for rival
Apple's most expensive iPhone.
Kenan Machado and Harriet Torry contributed to this article.
Write to Akane Otani at akane.otani@wsj.com and Riva Gold at
riva.gold@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 22, 2018 14:43 ET (19:43 GMT)
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