S&P 500 Hits Record on Yellen Speech; Phone Shares Rally
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U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a record, as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank may change its strategy for reducing asset purchases should the economy weaken.
Phone stocks rallied the most among the 10 main industries in the S&P 500 as JPMorgan Chase & Co. added Verizon Communications Inc. to its focus list. J.C. Penney Co. surged 25 percent after predicting an increase in annual revenue and wider margins. Sears Holdings Corp. rose 6.5 percent after reporting a narrower fourth-quarter loss. Transocean Ltd. fell 1.1 percent as sales missed analysts’ forecasts at the world’s largest offshore rig contractor.