Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
Stocks rose on Monday, with Nasdaq Composite Global stock markets closed at a record high, as Wall Street looks to maintain the strong momentum seen in the first half of 2024.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.83% to close at 17,879.30 points, the index's highest close. Standard & Poor's 500 It rose by 0.27% to close at 5,475.09. Dow Jones Industrial Average The Dubai Financial Market index rose by about 50.66 points, or 0.13%, to close at 39,169.52 points.
tech giant Microsoft It added 2.2%, while apple Jumped 2.9%. AI is the favorite Nvidia The technology sector rose 1.3% in the first trading session in July.
U.S. Treasury yields rose, with the benchmark 10-year note yield up 13 basis points to 4.471%. The two-year note yield rose 4 basis points to 4.762%.
Cruise operator shares came under pressure as Hurricane Beryl made landfall in the Caribbean as a Category 4 storm. Carnival It decreased by 5.4%, and Royal Caribbean It lost about 1.9%.
The moves come on the heels of continued excitement surrounding artificial intelligence that has helped boost stocks like Nvidia, which led the S&P 500 to a 14.5% gain in the first half. The Nasdaq Composite gained 18.1% in the first half, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was weaker due to a second-quarter decline, adding 3.8%.
SPX Index So Far This Year
Investors are still mindful of the lack of market breadth that continues to plague the market and could impact moves in the second half of the year, according to Joseph Kosik, senior vice president and portfolio strategist at Calamos Investments. He noted that just 10 stocks make up nearly 33% of the total weighting of the S&P 500, a level of disproportion he says has only happened three times in the past.
“The public and advisors are seeing and feeling the pressures of increased risk,” Kosik told CNBC. “The excuse for this cycle is that the nature of market dominance doesn’t seem to be abating, but as markets approach historic highs, advisors and clients should not abandon proactive portfolio management and diversification strategies.”
However, some expect this tech-driven momentum to continue at least through the summer, despite some concerns that multiples have reached elevated levels.
“While AI may seem like just another temporary fad, I believe it is much more than that,” said Kevin Philip, partner at Bel Air Investment Advisors. “It has the potential to reignite the spark of increased productivity for businesses, advance technology in faster and more efficient ways, and create entirely new industries as AI collides with more powerful computer processors.”
Monday kicks off a holiday-shortened trading week, with markets closed on Thursday for the Fourth of July. Investors will get a big idea of the state of the labor market on Friday with the release of the June jobs report.
