Stocks ended a wobbly day modestly higher on Wall Street, enough to notch more all-time highs for major indexes. The S&P 500 rose 8.29 points, or 0.2%, to 4,613.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 94.28 points, or 0.3%, to 35,913.84. The Nasdaq rose 97.53 points, 0.6%, to 15,595.52. Smaller company stocks far outpaced the broader market: The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 60.93 points, or 2.7%, to 2,358.12. This week traders will be watching another policy meeting by the Federal Reserve, which is in the process of considering how to wind down its extraordinary support measures for the economy, the AP reports. The central bank will release its latest statement on Wednesday.
More than 65% of stocks in the S&P 500 rose, led by energy companies as the price of US crude oil rose 0.6%, adding to a more than 75% gain so far this year. Exxon Mobil rose 1.8%. A mix of companies that rely on direct consumer spending for goods and services accounted for a big slice of the index's gains. Tesla jumped 8.5% and Starbucks gained 3.5%. Losses by technology, communication and health care companies kept the S&P 500's gains in check. Microsoft fell 0.7%, Google parent Alphabet slid 3.1%, and UnitedHealth Group dropped 1.5%.
Stocks have been gaining ground for weeks as investors review a steady flow of mostly encouraging corporate earnings. More than half of the companies in the benchmark S&P 500 index have already reported results. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer will report its results on Tuesday and CVS Health will report results on Wednesday. Investors will also get another update on the employment market when the Labor Department releases its jobs report for October on Friday.
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