NEW YORK: Stocks on Wednesday finished mostly higher, with the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average extending its record rise after an encouraging report on private payroll growth.
The S&P 500 index — a broader gauge of the stock market — posted slight gains, ending the session 24 points from its all-time closing high recorded in October of 2007.
The market’s bull run has come amid central bank monetary easing both in the United States and overseas, with the European Central Bank and Japan’s central bank among those participating.
“I wonder: Is it counterintuitive optimism growing from Japan to the U.S. that they are going to keep the punch bowl out there? Central bankers are all in; how can you collectively fight all of them? If you’re betting against them, that’s a big bet to make,” said Nick Raich, CEO of the research firm Earnings Scout.
A day after closing at an all-time high, the Dow Jones industrial average increased its gains, ending up 42.47 points, or 0.3 percent, at 14,296.24.
The S&P 500 index added 1.67 point, or 0.1 percent, to 1,541.46, leaving it 24 points shy of its record-high finish hit in October 2007.
“We’re approaching all-time highs because we’re at all-time levels of profit,” Raich said. “Earnings growth for the S&P 500 reaccelerated from the third to fourth quarter, but there is going to be a temporary slowdown in first quarter.”
The Nasdaq composite lost 1.77 points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,222.36, hit in part by a 1.3 percent decline in shares of Apple Inc. Data showed a welcome rise in private-sector payrolls in February, a less-than-expected drop in U.S. factory orders the month before, and evidence of slowing retail sales from the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book.