U.S. equities traded mixed on Thursday as investors repositioned their portfolios following the presidential election.
The Dow Jones industrial average hit a new all-time intraday, and traded about 270 points higher, with IBM and Goldman Sachscontributing the most gains to the tune of 72 points and 37 points, respectively.
"Equities are adjusting to change and uncertainty with a Trump presidency," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. "There still needs to be more clarity and that's going to impact equity prices."
The Nasdaq composite underperformed, briefly falling 2 percent as theiShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) pared initial gains while the so-called FANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet) all fell. The index held around 0.3 percent lower as of 2:08 p.m. ET.
"These are expensive stocks that don't like higher interest rates. These have been the leaders and the leaders are getting whacked," said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group. He said that FANG stocks "don't like higher interest rates because higher interest rates exposes things that are overvalued."
The S&P 500 gyrated between gains and losses, holding about 0.4 percent higher, with financials rising 4 percent to lead advancers. Bank stocks rose, with the SPDR S&P Bank ETF holding about 4 percent higher after hitting its highest level since September 2008.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 266 points, or 1.45 percent, to 18,859, with Goldman Sachs leading advancers and Procter & Gamblethe biggest decliner.
The S&P 500 gained 10 points, or 0.48 percent, to trade at 2,173, with finanicals leading six sectors higher and consumer discretionary lagging.
The Nasdaq composite fell 22 points, or 0.42 percent, to 5,228.
The Dow Transports rose 2.1 percent, hitting a more than one-year high, led by Avis, which rose 4.95 percent. 1
The precious metals bulls are still somewhat excited about the prospect of better worldwide demand for raw commodities in the coming months. This is evidenced by good gains in silver prices today and a copper market that is on fire this week—gaining over 30 cents a pound in four trading sessions and trading at a 16-month high. The rallying world stock markets are a sign of optimism that the U.S. and world economies could be in for a growth spurt in 2017. Rising interest rates this week are also leading to notions of rising inflationary price pressures down the road. All of the above would suggest better demand for raw commodities. 2
Gold prices ended the U.S. day session moderately lower and hit a three-week low Thursday. A generally keener “risk-on” trader and investor mentality worldwide helped to sink the safe-haven metal today. The gold market has backed way off from a six-week high of $1,338.30, scored early Wednesday.
