Stock Market News For July 12, 2016

Benchmarks started the week in positive territory following continuing positive impact of Friday’s encouraging job data on investor sentiment. Moreover, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s victory in upper house election on Sunday also raised chances of additional stimulus measures. This in turn also boosted domestic markets.

For a look at the issues currently facing the markets, make sure to read today’s Ahead of Wall Street article.

Yesterday, all the three key U.S. indexes reached their respective record highs. The S&P 500 closed at a record high, beating its previous record settlement of 2,130.82 achieved on May 21, 2015. The S&P 500 also registered a record intra-day high of 2,143.19. Moreover, the Dow and Nasdaq also rose to their highest level for the year. Additionally, the blue-chip index closed near the all-time record level of 18,312.39 reached on May 19, 2015 and the tech-based index finished near the level of 5,000.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) increased 0.4%, to close at 18,226.93. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to close at 2,137.16. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 4,988.64, gaining 0.6%. However, the fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) increased 2.6% to settle at 13.54. A total of around 3.2 billion shares were traded on Monday on the NYSE. Advancers outpaced declining stocks on the NYSE. For 67% stocks that advanced, 31% declined.

Friday’s better-than-expected job report continued to boost investor sentiment on Monday. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. economy created a total of 287,000 jobs in June, significantly higher than the consensus estimate of 177,000. Domestic economy added higher-than-expected new jobs for the first time in last four months.

Moreover, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party won the country’s upper house election on Sunday. Following the victory, it is speculated that Abe will now come up with more aggressive economic stimulus measures to boost the nation’s economy. Also, in a press conference yesterday Abe said the government will now “make bold investment into seeds of future growth."

Strong rebound in jobs addition and Abe’s victory had a broad-based positive impact on markets. The Financial Services Select Sector SPDR (XLFS) progressed 1% and was biggest advancer among S&P 500 sectors. Top holdings from this sector such as Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) ( BAC), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C). (C) and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) (WFC) increased 0.3%, 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively. Dow components JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) ( JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS), Inc. (GS) rose 0.7% and 1.2%, respectively.

Further, the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI) increased 0.6% and was one of the highest gainer among S&P 500 sectors. Dow components 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) ( MMM) and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) (UTX) rose 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively.

Additionally, information technology sector in the S&P 500 rose more than 0.6% and in turn boosted the broader technology sector. Key components from the information technology sector such as International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) Corporation (IBM), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc. (GOOGL), Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). (AAPL) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Inc. (FB) advanced 0.6%, 1.3%, 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively.

European shares boosted on news that Home Secretary Theresa May will succeed British Prime Minister David Cameron following his resignation on Wednesday. This in turn had positive impact on the U.S. stock markets.