S&P 500 Off to Best Start Since ’97 as Stocks Lead Gains
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The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index returned 5.2 percent in January in the strongest start to a year since 1997, leading global stocks higher and beating bonds, commodities and currencies.
The benchmark index for U.S. equities surpassed 1,500 during the month for the first time since December 2007 and the MSCI All-Country World Index of shares in 45 nations climbed 4.6 percent, including dividends. The S&P GSCI Total Return Index of 24 commodities added 4.4 percent, the biggest increase since August. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.7 percent. Bonds lost an average 0.7 percent as of Jan. 30, snapping a six-month rally, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Broad Market Index of 20,000 fixed-income securities.