Tech firms lead S&P index to all-time high
Technology companies led the Standard & Poor's 500 index to an all-time closing high last night.
The stock market has recovered all the ground it lost over the previous two weeks, when worries over slower economic growth, falling commodity prices and disappointing quarterly earnings battered financial markets.
The S&P 500 index rose 11.37 points to close at 1,593.61.
The 0.7% increase nudged the index above its previous closing high of 1,593.36, reached on April 11.
"The market has had a terrific run," said Philip Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors, noting that the S&P 500 is up 12% since the start of 2013.
"At the beginning of the year, I thought we were going to 1,660 (for the whole year). We're only about 5% from that."
A pair of better economic reports gave investors some encouragement. Wages and spending rose in the US last month, and pending home sales hit their highest level in three years.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 106.20 points to 14,818.75, up 0.7%. Microsoft and IBM were among the Dow's best performers, rising more than 2% each.
IBM, which rose 4.84 dollars to 199.15 dollars, accounted for a third of the Dow's increase. The index is just 46 points below its own record high of 14,865 reached on April 11.
Technology's popularity yesterday was a change from earlier this month, when it lagged behind the rest of the market.
Concerns about weak business spending and slower overseas sales have cast a shadow over big tech firms, said Marty Leclerc, the managing partner of Barrack Yard Advisors, an investment firm in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
Revenue misses from IBM and other big tech companies have highlighted the industry's vulnerability to the world economy.
But Mr Leclerc thinks tech companies with steady revenue and plenty of cash look appealing over the long term.
The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes reached the highest level since April 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Back then, a tax credit for buying houses had lifted sales. In a separate report, the government said Americans' spending and income both edged up last month.
