US stocks pushed higher for a second week running as investor relief at higher oil prices and greater confidence over Greek debt talks and Ukraine peace prospects lifted the market.
The broad-based S&P 500 finished the week with a flourish, closing at its first record for this year at 2,096.99 after adding 41.52 points (2.02 percent).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed its own threshold, breaching 18,000 for the first time this year to end at 18,019.35, up 195.06 (1.09 percent).
The tech-rich NASDAQ Composite Index gained 149.44 (3.15 percent) to 4,893.84.
“While investors recognize the market may be expensive, I don’t think too many people are calling for the next crisis around the corner,” BMO Private Bank chief investment officer Jack Ablin said.
The gains came despite some disappointing US data, especially a retail sales report for last month that showed a drop of 0.8 percent compared with the prior month. That dulled some of the luster from last week’s surprisingly robust US jobs report.
However, investors largely shrugged off the data, focusing instead on the pickup in the oil market, with US prices finishing above US$50 per barrel for the second week in a row.
Investors took an optimistic view of a ceasefire roadmap unveiled on Thursday between Kiev and pro-Russian rebels. Ukraine officials continued to speak cautiously of the deal as fighting raged on Friday.
Investors also saw reason to be optimistic about ongoing talks between Greece and the eurozone over Athens’ demand for a new bailout deal, taking cues from European markets, which rose on Friday in part due to expectations that an agreement would be reached to avoid a Greek sovereign debt default.
Ablin said investors still do not know what to expect from Greece, but have become less rattled by a potential Greek departure from the currency bloc.
“Investors increasingly believe that if Greece were to leave the eurozone, it wouldn’t be the end of the world,” he said. “In fact, it could catalyze growth.”
Among corporate news stories, Apple Inc stole more headlines when it became the first public company to reach a market value of US$700 billion. The jump followed an upbeat appraisal of the company’s iPhone and soon-to-arrive smartwatch prospects by chief executive Tim Cook at a technology conference.
The technology giant rose 6.9 percent for the week, ending with a market capitalization of more than US$740 billion.
The week’s most dramatic merger was US online travel operator Expedia Inc’s announcement that it would buy rival Orbitz Worldwide Inc for about US$1.6 billion. The deal is the latest move to consolidate the online travel industry and comes less than a month after Expedia announced the purchase of rival Travelocity in a US$280 million deal.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last