NEW YORK (AP) — Major U.S. stock indexes are reaching record highs Tuesday as big-name technology companies like Apple trade higher. Retailers including Amazon and Nike also rose. The Federal Reserve began its last policy meeting of the year, and it’s widely expected to announce an increase in interest rates on Wednesday.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 75 points, or 0.4 percent, to 19,871 as of 10:55 a.m. Eastern time. Earlier the blue-chip index traded as high as 19,915. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index picked up 11 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,267. The Nasdaq composite climbed 57 points, or 1.1 percent, to 5,469. The Russell 2000 index of small company stocks slipped 0.2 percent.
TECH IS TOPS: Early on, some of the largest gains went to companies that have lagged the market during its post-election rally. Those included technology and health care companies. Apple added $1.73, or 1.5 percent, to $115.03 and Google’s parent Alphabet gained $14.40, or 1.8 percent, to $822.30. Facebook climbed $2.33, or 2 percent, to $120.10. Drug companies also rose. Hepatitis C drug maker Gilead Sciences gained $2.01, or 2.8 percent, to $75.01 and Pfizer rose 31 cents, or 1 percent, to $32.71.
DRINK TO THAT: Japanese brewer Asahi Group said it will pay $7.8 billion to buy five beer brands in Eastern Europe from AB InBev, the maker of Budweiser. The brands include Pilsner Urquell. In October AB InBev bought rival SABMiller, and during those negotiations Asahi bought a group of Western European brands including Peroni and Grolsch. AB InBev picked up $1.79, or 1.5 percent, to $105.48.
FED WATCH: Investors expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates when it ends a policy meeting Wednesday. The central bank last raised interest rates a year ago. It’s kept rates ultra-low since the 2008 financial crisis, but its leaders have suggested the U.S. economy is improving enough to start gradually raising rates. Low interest rates have helped drive stock prices higher but they also punish savers who look for income from bank accounts and bonds.
CONSUMER COMPANIES CLIMB: Consumer-focused companies rose more than the rest of the market. Online retailer Amazon rose $18.98, or 2.5 percent, to $779.10 and shoe and athletic apparel maker Nike jumped $1.34, or 2.6 percent, to $52.88. Newell Brands, which owns brands including Rubbermaid, Elmer’s and Mr. Coffee, picked up 80 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $47.28.
HIGH FLIER: JetBlue Airways rose after the company gave a stronger-than-expected guidance for a key revenue measure and reported improvement in November. Its stock gained $1.11, or 5.1 percent, to $22.73.
DEAL DELAY: Health technology company Inovalon cut its quarterly revenue guidance by about 10 percent. It said a potential client suffered a business setback and wasn’t able to complete a multi-year deal with Inovalon. The company expected $40 million in revenue from that potential client in the fourth quarter. Inovalon’s stock lost $5.30, or 35.7 percent, to $9.55.
BONDS: U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.47 percent from 2.48 percent. On Monday bond yields rose to their highest level since June.
ENERGY: Oil prices were little changed. Benchmark U.S. crude slid 27 cents to $52.56 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 28 cents to $55.41 a barrel in London. On Monday oil reached its highest price in a year and a half after a group of oil-producing nations said they would cut production, backing up a recent deal by the nations in OPEC.
DOLLAR ASCENDANT: The dollar rose to 115.30 yen from 115.12 yen. The euro edged up to $1.0636 from $1.0630.
OVERSEAS: The FTSE MIB in Italy jumped 1.7 percent and UniCredit, the largest Italian lender, jumped 12 percent after it said it will unload $18.8 billion in soured loans, raise billions in cash, and cut thousands more jobs. Germany’s DAX rose 0.9 percent the French CAC-40 was up 0.8 percent. In Britain, the FTSE 100 rose 0.9 percent. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 percent. The Kospi in South Korea climbed 0.4 percent and the Hang Seng of Hong Kong added 0.1 percent.
AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/marley-jay
First Published: December 13, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
Updated: December 13, 2016, 4:04 p.m.
