US stocks climbed today as retail sales data lifted the outlook for consumer spending and as healthcare shares gained. The S&P 500 health care index gained 0.5 percent and was among the day’s best-performing sectors, led by shares of Eli Lilly.
S&P utilities rose 0.7 percent, the day’s strongest sector, as U.S. bond yields retreated. Utilities and other dividend payers tend to compete with bonds for investment money.
US retail sales increased 1.2 percent in May, more than expected, as households boosted purchases of automobiles and a range of other goods even as they paid a bit more for gasoline. The S&P retail index was up 0.2 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 38.97 points, or 0.22 percent, to 18,039.37, the S&P 500 gained 3.66 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,108.86 and the Nasdaq Composite added 5.82 points, or 0.11 percent, to 5,082.51.
In Europe, shares pared gains after the International Monetary Fund’s delegation broke off talks in Brussels and flew home because of major differences with Athens.
European shares rose, with the auto sector gaining on an upbeat forecast from Daimler, while Greek shares rallied 8.2 percent on hopes a resolution to its nagging debt woes was near. The market closed before the IMF news.
MSCI’s all-country stock index rose 0.12 percent, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed up 0.59 percent to 1,557.95, after being more than 1 percent higher earlier in the session.
Yields on German 10-year bunds, the benchmark for euro zone borrowing costs, fell 12 basis points to 0.89 percent.
British 10-year gilts posted their strongest one-day price gain in four weeks, tracking German bond prices higher after the IMF broke off talks with Greece. German 10-year yields, which set the benchmark for euro zone borrowing costs, fell 12 basis points in price to yield 0.89 percent.
Meanwhile, Japanese stocks rose to snap a four-day losing streak and bouncing from three-week lows, taking heart from Wall Street’s rally overnight and as Greece appeared to inch closer to reaching a cash-for-reform deal with its creditors.
The Nikkei share average ended 1.7 percent higher at 20,382.97, posting the biggest percentage gain in four months. The broader Topix gained 1.3 percent to 1,648.88 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 added 1.2 percent to 14,882.22.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald