U.S. Stocks Hold Near Record High as Tech, Bank Shares Advance

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks were little changed, following two weeks of equity gains, as investors assess economic data and financial companies edged higher.

The S&P 500 Index slipped less than 0.1 percent at 10:15 a.m. in New York. The benchmark last week rose 1 percent to close at a fresh record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed at 21,207 on Monday.

• Financial stocks up 0.5% as all but four companies advance
• Tech stocks up 0.2% on gains in Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia and Micron
  • SOX Index up 0.7% -- index has fallen just four times in the last month
  • Alphabet shares surpass $1,000 as stock gains for 10th time in 11 sessions
• VIX rises past 10 after falling in nine of the past 11 sessions
• Volume in S&P 500 22% below 30-day average in early trading
• POLITICS:
  • Over the weekend, Trump took to Twitter to criticize the mayor of London’s handling of Saturday night’s attacks, call on the courts to restore his travel ban, and linking the incident to the U.S. debate over gun control
  • Four U.S. Arab allies led by Saudi Arabia pushed ahead with plans to isolate Qatar in an unprecedented escalation designed to punish one of the region’s financial superpowers for its support of Islamist groups and ties with Iran
• ECONOMY:
  • The World Bank kept its growth outlook for the global economy unchanged at 2.7% this year and 2.9 percent next year, despite uncertainty about monetary policy and the risk of rising protectionism
  • Nonfarm productivity unchanged; est. -0.1%
  • Markit PMI Index rises to 53.6 from 53.2 in April; Year ago 50.9
  • Orders for non-military capital goods excluding aircraft unchanged (forecast 0.5% gain) after March revised down to no change

For related equity market news:

• Record Drop in Correlation as VIX at ’93 Low: Volatility Monitor
• Junk Bonds Couldn’t Care Less About Stock Market’s Alarm Bells

To contact the reporter on this story: Oliver Renick in New York at orenick2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Chris Nagi at chrisnagi@bloomberg.net, Richard Richtmyer