AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
Despite political gridlock and a government shutdown causing some investor worry, the stock market edged higher. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all saw gains, with the S&P 500 and Dow achieving consecutive closing highs. Materials led sector gains, while energy lagged. Tesla’s selloff weighed on consumer discretionary. Occidental Petroleum’s stock fell after announcing the sale of its petrochemical division to Berkshire Hathaway. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on both the NYSE and Nasdaq, with both exchanges recording new highs and lows.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
While the shutdown was not a shock and investors have been soothed by the knowledge that such closures have typically not hurt the market in the past, Baird noted that it still caused worries.
“Given how polarized the two (political) parties are right now, and both seem to be staking out their respective positions, it wouldn’t be surprising if this one drags out a little bit longer,” he said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78.62 points, or 0.17%, to 46,519.72. The S&P 500 gained 4.15 points, or 0.06%, to 6,715.35 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 88.89 points, or 0.39%, to 22,844.05.
The gains marked two closing highs in a row for the S&P 500 and the Dow, while the Nasdaq narrowly missed a record close on Wednesday.
Materials was the biggest percentage gainer among the benchmark’s 11 major industry sectors, adding 1%. Energy was the biggest percentage loser of the group, falling 1%.
Consumer discretionary, while not the biggest percentage loser, was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 due largely to a selloff in shares of Tesla, which ended down 5% for its biggest one-day percentage loss since late July.
Occidental Petroleum said it would sell its petrochemical division to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway for $9.7 billion, sending shares of the oil and gas producer down 7.3%.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.16-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 530 new highs and 93 new lows.
On the Nasdaq, 2,706 stocks rose and 1,971 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.37-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 140 new highs and 67 new lows.
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(Reporting by Sinéad Carew and Caroline Valetkevitch in New York and Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Matthew Lewis)
