Investing.com – U.S. stocks made a winning start to the month, led by a rally in financials, mostly banks, following a sharp move higher in US bond yields amid upbeat manufacturing data pointing to solid economic growth.
In what was a quiet day on Wall Street ahead of the fourth of July holiday in the U.S. on Tuesday, the Dow hit record highs, after manufacturing data topped analysts’ forecasts, spurring a rally in U.S. bond yields as investor expectations grew that the Federal Reserve would hike rates later this year.
The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index rose to 57.8 last month from 54.9 in May. The measure now stands at its highest level since August 2014.
The move higher in banking stocks offset a slump in technology stocks, as Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (O:CMCSA) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
In corporate news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) delivered 22,000 vehicles in the second quarter, and is poised to complete its first production of its Model 3 that meets regulatory requirements later this week, with a view to begin shipping the much anticipated model on July 28.
The electric car manufacturer said deliveries will "likely exceed" those in the first half of the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 21,479.27. The S&P 500 closed 0.23% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6110.06, down 0.49%.
‘Bulls and Bears’ on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) up 1.5%, JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) up 0.5% and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), up 0.8%
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) down 1.1%, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) down 0.8% and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) down 0.6%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.