Stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a record for a fifth day, amid better-than- projected earnings forecasts. European shares and metals gained as China’s trade and German industrial output beat estimates.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.4% to 1,632.68 as of 4 p.m. in New York and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.6% to an almost five-year high. Copper, lead, natural gas and gold rose more than 1.5% to lead commodities higher while the Dollar Index lost 0.4%. Ten- year Treasury yields were little changed 1.77% after surging 15 points in three days. The New Zealand dollar weakened against all 16 major peers after the Reserve Bank said it sold the so-called kiwi to protect the economy.
Whole Foods Market Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc. surged more than 10% to lead gains in the S&P 500 after earnings projections exceeded analyst estimates. China’s export and import growth unexpectedly accelerated in April and German industrial production increased for a second month in March, reports showed today.
“We’ve recovered from the nervousness that we saw in the market in April and we’ve built a nice base here,” Peter Jankovskis, who helps oversee $3.5 billion as co-chief investment officer of Lisle, Illinois-based Oakbrook Investments LLC, said by phone. “We’ve gotten through the earnings season and we’re turning to the phase in the quarter where economic reports will determine if the market can hold up.”
Market Leaders
Technology, commodity and telephone shares rose at least 0.8% to lead gains in nine of the 10 main industry groups in the S&P 500. UnitedHealth Group Inc., Alcoa Inc. and Hewlett- Packard Co. climbed more than 2.6% for the biggest gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which climbed 48.92 points to 15,105.12. Symantec Corp. lost 2.4% after it said quarterly sales and revenue will miss analyst estimates.
News Corp. and Monster Beverage Corp. are among five S&P 500 companies reporting earnings today. About 72% of companies that have released results since the start of the earnings season have exceeded profit projections, while 52% have missed sales estimates, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The S&P 500 has risen 14% this year and is up 141% from its bear-market low in 2009 as earnings growth and stimulus measures from the Federal Reserve fueled the rally.
Investors are set to “enjoy historically high excess returns” in the S&P 500 until 2018, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York economists Fernando Duarte and Carlo Rosa. The main reason for the high premium is low Treasury yields at all time horizons, the economists said.
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