S&P 500 hits new high as mining stocks rise on China stimulus boost

By Echo Wang

(Reuters) -The Dow and S&P 500 reached new highs on Tuesday, overcoming weak consumer confidence data, with mining stocks driving gains after China unveiled a sweeping stimulus package.

The indexes initially trimmed gains after a report from the Conference Board revealed an unexpected decline in U.S. consumer confidence in September, driven by growing concerns about the labor market's health.

“Today's price action is predominantly about what happened overnight with the policy announcements from China, direct support for their equity market and pledges to cut interest rates in the future, has caused a really sharp move in international stocks in general,” said Zachary Hill, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“That's feeding through into parts of the U.S. market, where you see some more China-sensitive, more cyclical industries like metals and mining materials sector outperforming.”

At 2:39 p.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.96 points, or 0.01%, to 42,127.61, the S&P 500 gained 8.78 points, or 0.15%, to 5,727.91 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 86.09 points, or 0.48%, to 18,060.36.

Six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors traded higher, with material stocks outperforming peers with a 1.32% rise.

Metal prices got a boost after the world's second-largest economy, China, unveiled its biggest stimulus since the pandemic to pull the economy out of its deflationary funk.

Copper and lithium miners rose. Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX ) rose 7.9%, Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO ) added 7.66%, Albemarle (NYSE:ALB ) advanced 2.58% and Arcadium Lithium climbed 4.2%.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms such as Alibaba (NYSE:BABA ) rose 7.19%, PDD Holdings added 9.85% and Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI ) advanced 10.46%, tracking gains in the domestic market.

Megacap stocks were mixed, with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA ) gaining 4.51%, while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT ) lost over 1%. The broader technology sector rose 0.69%.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index was up 1.35% as chip stocks Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM ) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC ) rose 0.61% and 1.31%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman cautioned that key inflation measures remained "uncomfortably above" the Fed's 2% target, warranting caution as the Fed proceeds with cutting interest rates.

Weekly jobless claims and personal consumption expenditure data remain in focus this week.

Among stocks, Visa (NYSE:V ) lost 4.66% after the U.S. Department of Justice sued the company for alleged antitrust violations. This weighed on the financial sector which slipped more than 1%.



Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.72-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 491 new highs and 38 new lows on the NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted 58 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 95 new highs and 91 new lows.

Source: Investing.com