By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 18th, 2024
The record high attained by the S&P 500 as well as the other market indices rode on the back of strong gains in the tech sector as led by the FAANG stocks on Thursday.
Following an impressive record performance in March, the United States stock market took a new leap into April with the S&P 500 Index (INDEXSP: .INX) soaring above 4,000 for the first time in history adding 46.98 points atop a 1.18% to 4,019.87. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX: .DJI) which closed Wednesday down 0.26% received a resurgence, adding 171.66 points on a 0.52% gain to 33,153.21. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ: .IXIC) also trailed the growth soaring 1.76% to 13,480.10 after adding 233.23 points.
The positive market rally was influenced by the steady progress in the efforts to reopen the economy as the vaccination program received new boosts from the $1.9 trillion stimulus package as well as the unveiled $2 trillion infrastructure plans by President Joe Biden.
“The reopening of the U.S. economy continues to support equity markets as the light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel draws near,” said Craig Johnson, technical market strategist at Piper Sandler. ”Fiscal and monetary policy support remains unprecedented and well-telegraphed at this juncture.”
Per the details of the infrastructure plans, the president seeks to revamp the nation’s bridges, public transit, roads, airports, ports, and the development of electric vehicles. With other robust plans involved in the deal, the caveat that market makers are not paying attention to at this time according to analysts is the increase in corporate tax to 28% to fund the plans within 15 years.
“I think the market is pricing in the good news of infrastructure … I don’t think the market has necessarily priced in the negatives, which is how are we going to pay for this,” said Savita Subramanian, Bank of America equity strategist on CNBC’s “Fast Money.”
S&P 500 Record High Propelled by Tech Growth
The record high attained by the S&P 500 as well as the other market indices rode on the back of strong gains in the tech sector as led by the FAANG stocks on Thursday.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) surged 1.40% to $298.66, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw a 0.70% growth to $123, Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) ended Thursday’s session with a 3.26% jump to $2,129.78. Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX) grew 3.40% to $539.42 and e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) closed yesterday’s session with a 2.16% leap to $3,161.00.
A particular high flyer in the market is the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) which recorded a growth of 2.79% to $242.35 as fueled by the contract inked with the United States Army to deliver augmented reality (AR) headsets. The deal as reported by Coinspeaker is projected to bring in about $21.9 billion for the company over the next 10 years.
The tech stocks gains also come as the bond yield veered off the growth path with the 10-year Treasury yield falling 7 basis points to around 1.68% Thursday.