BLBG: U.S. Index Futures Gain as Dow Above 18,000, S&P 500 Near Record
U.S. stock-index futures climbed amid low volume as markets reopen after the Christmas holiday.
Contracts on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) expiring in March rose 0.1 percent to 2,081.7 at 6:32 a.m. in New York today as 81 of the futures changed hands. Dow Jones Industrial Average contracts added 28 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,016, and those on the Nasdaq 100 Index gained 0.3 percent to 4,295.
Both the S&P 500 and the Dow reached records this week after posting their biggest five-day rally in three years. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5 percent in the past three days, and the Dow added 1.3 percent, closing above 18,000 for a second day on Dec. 24. The S&P 500 ended little changed, erasing an advance of as much as 0.3 percent in the final minutes of the shortened trading day. Markets were closed yesterday for Christmas.
The recent gains are taking the Dow up 1.1 percent for the month and 8.8 percent this year. The S&P 500 has risen 0.7 percent in December and 13 percent in 2014.
A slump in oil prices threatened the stock rally earlier this month, with the S&P 500 closing at a seven-week low on Dec. 16. The index recouped its losses faster than in comparable drops earlier this year as the Federal Reserve said it will be patient on the timing of interest-rate increases and the U.S. economy expanded at the fastest pace in more than a decade.
Since the bull market began in 2009, the Dow has risen 175 percent (INDU), propelled by better-than-estimated corporate results and three rounds of Fed bond buying. The S&P 500 has more than tripled during that period. Even with slumps in 2014 risking to derail a bull market in its sixth year, the Dow’s worst retreat was only about 7 percent, and the gauge recovered from each drop in two months.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange S&P 500 Volatility Index, the gauge of S&P 500 swings known as the VIX (VIX), has slumped 39 percent in the past trading six days, its biggest plunge since January 2013.
Among single stocks moving, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. rose 4.6 percent in early New York trading. Exxon Mobil Corp. added 0.8 percent and Chevron Corp. climbed 0.9 percent as oil gained.
To contact the reporter on this story: Cecile Vannucci in London at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecile Vannucci at cvannucci1@bloomberg.net Pratish Narayanan
