Tech, healthcare stocks lead U.S. stocks for strongest gain in two weeks
U.S. stocks were on track for their strongest daily gain in two weeks on Wednesday, led by technology and healthcare stocks and hopes that Greece would avoid defaulting on its debt.
Reports that Athens and its creditors were near a deal pushed the euro higher against the dollar, partly reversing recent moves. EU officials, however, dismissed Greek claims an aid agreement was being drafted.
Concerns about Greece and the strong dollar, which cuts into the sales of U.S. multinationals, had pushed Wall Street to its steepest fall in three weeks on Tuesday.
“What we are seeing today is a traditional bounce-back,” said Michael Wall, president and founder of Retire Well and Wall Financial Group. “I expect the sideways trend to continue, though the market will continue to grind for gains in the coming few months.”
At 2:10 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 129.19 points, or 0.72 percent, to 18,170.73, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 18.11 points, or 0.86 percent, to 2,122.31 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 65.40 points, or 1.3 percent, to 5,098.15.
The last time all three indexes closed with larger gains was on May 14.
The S&P has inched up to a handful of record high closes in recent weeks. But the stock market has failed to make what traders see as meaningful gains, in part because they are concerned about when the Federal Reserve will start to raise interest rates.
Nine of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the technology .SPLRCT and health .SPXHC indexes both rising 1 percent or more.
The energy sector .SPNY was off a marginal 0.03 percent as the rising dollar weighed on oil prices. Low oil prices helped the Dow Jones airlines index .DJUSAR break a 5-day losing streak to rise 1.9 percent.
Apple (AAPL.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O), both up about 2 percent, gave the biggest boost to the Nasdaq.
Broadcom (BRCM.O) surged 15 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported the chipmaker was in talks to be bought by Avago Technologies (AVGO.O).
