S&P 500 Rises to All-Time High on Growth Optimism, Stimulus Bets
- Friday’s jobs report allays concerns spurred by dip in hiring
- Benchmark settles above its prior closing and intraday records
Why Do Stock Indexes Keep Grinding Higher?
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U.S. stocks climbed, pushing the benchmark S&P 500 Index to an all-time high, extending a rally from Friday when a better-than-forecast jobs report brightened the economic outlook without fueling expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates sooner.
The S&P 500 added 0.3 percent to 2,137.16 at 4 p.m. in New York, surpassing the prior intraday record set in May 2015. The index had spent 285 days trading without making a fresh record, the longest stretch outside a bear market since a 323-day drought in 1985. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 80 points, or 0.4 percent, to 18,226.93 today, less than half a percent away from the all-time high it set last year.