Financial stocks lead the rebound, Wall Street hits a new closing high Reuters

Caroline Valletkevich

NEW YORK (Reuters)-The three major U.S. stock indexes rose to record closing highs on Friday, and financial stocks and other economic-focused sectors rebounded from a sell-off triggered by growth concerns earlier this week.

The rebound caused the index to rise slightly this week, and U.S. Treasury bonds also rose sharply, as investors worried that as the Delta variant of the coronavirus spread across the world, the U.S. economic recovery might lose momentum.

The United States fell on Friday, halting eight days of price increases, while the S&P 500 financial sector rose 2.9%, the largest single-day percentage gain in the sector since March 1.

Financial stocks led the gains, followed by energy, materials and industrials. Major banks including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:) will start the second quarter earnings season when they announce their results next week.

Jack Doralsheed, CEO of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma, said: “All the pessimism and doom yesterday have changed drastically.”

He said: “Compared with the rest of the world, the United States is in a bubble and got rid of the new crown virus. We don’t know how long this situation will last,” but “before this narrative changes, this is a large amount of free money. And low interest rates.”

The S&P 500 index rose 448.23 points or 1.3% to 34,870.16, and the S&P 500 index rose 48.73 points or 1.13% to 4,369.55, and an increase of 142.13 points or 0.98% to 14,701.92.

This week, the Dow Jones Index rose 0.2%, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Index both rose 0.4%.

The substantial increase in quarterly earnings is expected to mark the peak of US profit growth recovering from the collapse caused by the pandemic last year. Investors are paying attention to the upcoming quarterly results of US companies and their forecasts for recovery in the second half of 2021, as some people worry that the recent economic surge has abated.

Refinitiv IBES data show that analysts expect the company’s earnings growth for the quarter to be 65.8%, higher than the 54% expected growth at the beginning of the quarter.

(Chart: US companies are expected to reach their peak in the second quarter, https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-STOCKS/EARNINGS/jbyprzbqype/chart.png)

Among individual stocks, Levi Strauss (New York Stock Exchange ticker:) rose 1.4% because it forecasted strong full-year profit, which exceeded quarterly profit expectations due to improved market demand for jeans, tops and jackets.

The U.S.-listed stock of Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Global Inc rose 7.3% after falling for four consecutive trading days as it was recently hit by an investigation by China’s Internet regulator.

The trading volume on the US exchange was 8.51 billion shares, while the average trading volume for the entire trading day in the past 20 trading days was 10.5 billion shares.

The ratio of the number of rising shares to the number of falling shares on the New York Stock Exchange is 3.77:1; on the Nasdaq, the ratio of 3.33:1 favors the risers.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index hit 44 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite Index hit 60 new highs and 32 new lows.