Today was another up day with the Dow passing the 36,000 mark in intraday trading for the first time in history, though it dropped a little below that by close. And the S&P today is up almost 23% for the year. The only bad but hardly surprising news is that manufacturing slowed confirming what we already knew that the supply chain crisis was constraining the economy. With over half of Q3 reporting in, earnings growth is at 39%, quite a hike from the 29% forecast a month ago. Investors are now eying the Fed’s plans for tapering the $120 billion monthly bond buying. Volume is just a tad above the 4-week average at 10.5 billion. 

November 1, 2021  5:21 PM

Wall Street hits records as Tesla surges; focus on Fed meeting

By Lewis Krauskopf and Devik Jain, Bansari Mayur Kamdar

DJ: 35,819.56  +89.08        NAS: 15,498.39  +50.27         S&P: 4,605.38  +8.96       10/29

DJ: 35,913.84  +94.28        NAS: 15,595.92  +97.53         S&P: 4,613.67  +8.29       11/1

Nov 1 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes notched record closing highs on Monday as Tesla shares surged and the energy sector gained while investors looked ahead to a major Federal Reserve meeting later in the week.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) eclipsed 36,000 points for the first time ever during intraday trading, ending just shy of that level.  Accommodative monetary policy has been one of the key supports for the stock market, with the benchmark S&P 500 rising 22.8% so far this year.  The Federal Reserve on Wednesday is expected to approve plans to scale back its $120 billion monthly bond-buying program put in place to help the economy during the coronavirus pandemic, while investors will also be focused on commentary about interest rates and how sustained the recent surge in inflation is. read more  "This (meeting) is going to be a relatively big deal," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management in Chicago. "We are expecting to hear the glide path for tapering the bond purchases."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 94.28 points, or 0.26%, to 35,913.84, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 8.29 points, or 0.18%, to 4,613.67 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 97.53 points, or 0.63%, to 15,595.92.

Tesla shares jumped 8.5%, helping lift the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector (.SPLRCD) about 1.5%.Shares of the electric car maker have charged higher since the company's market value crossed $1 trillion last week. read more

Among S&P 500 sectors, energy (.SPNY) led the way, rising 1.6%, while the communications services group (.SPLRCL) dropped 0.7%.  The small-cap Russell 2000 index (.RUT) was a standout, rising 2.7% for its biggest daily percentage gain since late August.  A survey on Monday showed U.S. manufacturing activity slowed in October, with all industries reporting record-long lead times for raw materials, indicating that stretched supply chains continued to constrain economic activity early in the fourth quarter. read more

With over half of S&P 500 companies having reported, third-quarter earnings are expected to have climbed 39%, according to Refinitiv IBES.  "There continues to be positive sentiment around earnings despite some high-profile misses," said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at investment management firm Invesco.  In company news, Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG.N) shares jumped 9.1% after the European Union removed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products, including whiskey, power boats and company's motorcycles. read more

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.84-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.05-to-1 ratio favored advancers.  The S&P 500 posted 46 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 208 new highs and 39 new lows.

About 10.5 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 10.3 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.