US close: Wall Street breaks new records amid tax reform hunger
Wall Street's main market gauges pushed further into record territory on Monday investors grew increasingly hopeful that the US tax reform bill will be passed this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished ahead 0.57% at 24,792.20, the S&P 500 was up 0.54% at 2,690.16 and the Nasdaq 100 added 0.73% to 6,513.27.
It was the 70th consecutive record close of 2017 for the Dow.
Hope that the Republican tax reform bill would pass this week was top of the agenda for traders, although "the passage of the bill is not yet a full gone conclusion, especially when talking about the murky world of US politics,” said James Hughes at Axitrader.
“The Democrats will be scrambling around desperately trying to turn Republican votes in their favor.
“Of course, all Democrats are united in their hatred for anything led by the Donald Trump administration, as well as by the feeling that thought of saving money for huge corporations and lining the pockets of America’s super-rich at the expense of every other hard working American.”
Expectations were that both chambers of the US Congress would vote on the bill by the middle of the week, with the proposed new legislation expected to be put on the president's desk to be signed before Christmas Day.
In other economic news, the NAHB's home builder confidence index jumped by three points to 73.0, against consensus expectations for 70.0, and its highest level since July 1999.
On the corporate front, shares of railroad company CSX Corporation finished up 1.25%, having been in the spotlight following the death of chief executive officer E. Hunter Harrison on Saturday.
Elsewhere, share buyback announcements were again a salient feature of the market landscape at the start of the week.
Drug giant Pfizer unveiled a fresh $10bn share repurchase authorisation alongside a 6.3% hike to its quarterly cash dividend payout, although its shares finished down 0.19%.
The news came alongside a similar announcement by Liberty Global of a $2bn stock repurchase programme, with its Class A stock adding 1.07%.
Shares in Campbell Soup were up 0.14%, even after S&P downgraded its long-term debt rating to BBB following news that it would buy Snyder-Lance in a transaction said to be worth $4.87bn.
Chocolate maker Hershey was also in focus, rising 0.11% after agreeing to buy Amplify Snack Brands for $12.00 per share.
Amplify stock rocketed 71.57% on the news.
Also in acquisitions news, Total System Services said it would buy payment technology firm Cayan for $1.05bn - Total’s shares were up 1.54%.
Akamai Technologies was up sharply, rising 13.69% after activist hedge fund Elliott Management said on Friday that it had a 6.5% stake in the internet technology group.
Elsewhere, software company Oracle lost 1.22%, reversing earlier gains after it announced a $1.2bn deal to buy Australian project management software provider Aconex.
Shares of chip-manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices were on the front foot, rising 6.71% on the heels of an upgrade to 'neutral' out of analysts at Macquarie.
Dow Jones - Risers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $46.26 3.82%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $149.76 2.10%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $71.39 1.99%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $176.42 1.41%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $184.80 1.18%
American Express Co. (AXP) $99.68 1.18%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $53.27 1.14%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $260.05 1.11%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $97.90 0.81%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $106.96 0.77%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $45.95 -0.56%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $86.38 -0.54%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $141.80 -0.46%
General Electric Co. (GE) $17.77 -0.34%
Visa Inc. (V) $113.55 -0.24%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $111.03 -0.22%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $37.13 -0.19%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $82.94 -0.11%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $56.22 -0.04%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $119.70 -0.03%
S&P 500 - Risers
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $65.67 13.69%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $111.22 5.29%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $34.50 5.25%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $3.69 5.13%
Macy's Inc. (M) $25.85 5.12%
L Brands Inc (LB) $61.01 4.99%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $33.43 4.96%
Alcoa Corporation (AA) $44.56 4.60%
CenturyLink Inc. (CTL) $17.76 4.47%
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) $23.61 4.38%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $14.84 -4.13%
SCANA Corp. (SCG) $42.98 -3.24%
Humana Inc. (HUM) $246.54 -2.80%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $91.55 -2.68%
Dominion Energy Inc. (D) $82.76 -2.54%
Ball Corp (BLL) $38.55 -2.21%
XL Group Ltd (XL) $35.51 -2.04%
NiSource Inc. (NI) $26.00 -2.00%
CVS Health Corp (CVS) $71.67 -1.93%
DTE Energy Co. (DTE) $111.15 -1.83%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $65.67 13.69%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $111.22 5.29%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $46.26 3.82%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $41.68 3.37%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class C (DISCK) $20.41 3.34%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $197.90 3.31%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $240.93 3.19%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $43.71 3.09%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $21.64 2.85%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $41.67 2.84%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $93.56 -2.96%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $91.55 -2.68%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $107.34 -1.78%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $105.50 -1.60%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $383.39 -1.43%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $338.87 -1.33%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $108.04 -1.25%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $28.65 -1.14%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $66.01 -1.08%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $107.48 -0.85%