U.S. equities climbed to a record high amid solid corporate earnings and confidence that the Federal Reserve will remain accommodative even as robust growth takes the world’s largest economy back to pre-pandemic levels.
The S&P 500 rose after notching its first weekly decline since mid-March. Most of the main 11 industry groups gained, with energy and consumer-discretionary shares jumping the most. Small-cap stocks in the Russell 2000 outperformed the broader market. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hovered around its 50-day moving average. Copper, seen as a barometer of growth, surged to the highest in a decade.
Investors this week will focus on corporate earnings and U.S. economic data even as the Fed primes them to expect no change to policy at their two-day meeting ending Wednesday. While emerging economies from India to Brazil are grappling with a Covid-19 surge or renewed curbs, the developed world is on a firmer recovery path with a faster pace of vaccination.
