Wall Street Hits New Record Highs

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published August 16, 2016 | 11:21 AM

NEW YORK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Augst,2016) - US stocks jumped to fresh records Monday behind stronger oil prices, while European markets were little changed. All three major US indices pushed to fresh records for the second time in three sessions.

Prior to last Thursday, that feat had not been accomplished in more than 16 years. Wall Street stocks have been propelled to fresh records by the comparative strength of the US economy, coupled with expectations of accommodative monetary policy, including very-low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve. Analysts said Monday's records were largely due to positive momentum, on a light day as far as major economic reports and earnings.

Besides energy equities, which were boosted by higher oil prices, sectors with outsized gains included industrials, financials and materials. "It's a very low-volume month with not a lot of data out there, and so it's sort like a self-fulfilling momentum," said Sam Stovall of S&P Global Intelligence. London and Frankfurt saw small gains while Paris was nearly flat in the absence of major European data and with trading subdued on an official holiday in France and parts of Germany.