U.S. stocks churned near record highs on Wednesday as the market gets set to close out a winning first half and second quarter of 2021.
The Dow Jones Industrials vaulted 140.13 points midday to 34,432.42.
Walmart, Boeing and Chevron were some of the biggest movers in the Dow on Wednesday, helping the industrial-focused average outperform the broader indexes.
The S&P 500 added 3.24 points to Tuesday’s record, registering at 4,295.04,
The NASDAQ docked 19.67 points from Tuesday’s all-time high, at 14,508.67.
Big Tech shares including Apple and Facebook were mixed in early trading Wednesday
Wednesday is the last day of the second quarter and final day of the first half of 2021. So far on the year, the S&P 500 is up 14%, while the NASDAQ Composite and the Dow have gained 12% apiece. For the quarter, the S&P 500 is up 8%. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ all posted fresh record closes on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 is headed for its fifth positive month in a row, rising 2.1% to 4,291.80 in June. The broad index is also on track for its best first half since 2019.
The three biggest winners in the Dow this year so far are Goldman Sachs, American Express and Walgreens Boots Alliance, all up more than 30%. Chevron, Microsoft and JPMorgan Chase are up more than 20% each. The tech and health care sectors of the S&P 500 both closed at records Tuesday.
The gains came as nearly 60% of U.S. adults have received a COVID-19 vaccine, allowing the economy to open back up at a rapid pace.
Still, new variants of the virus have raised some concerns that more restrictions such as mask wearing would have to be reinstituted because the pace of vaccinations has slowed.
Homebuilder stocks rose Tuesday after S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller published its National Home Price Index, which showed home prices rose more than 14% in April from the previous year.
Pending home sales also jumped in May to their highest level since 2005. However, mortgage demand fell last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday, with high prices and low supply appearing to squeeze out some potential buyers.
Elsewhere, the Instituted for Supply Management’s Chicago purchasing managers index came in lower than expected for June but still showed expansion.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys gained ground, lowering yields to 1.44% from Tuesday’s 1.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 29 cents to $73.27 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $3.30 to $1,766.90 U.S. an ounce.