US stocks finish September higher
The S&P 500 ended up 0.4%, another record closing high. The Nasdaq 100 advanced 0.3%, while the Russell 2000 gained 0.2%. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ended the month up more than 2% and scored a winning quarter, too.
The stock rally during the last minutes of trading recouped earlier losses in the session. Major indices dipped in early afternoon amid Jerome Powell’s address at the National Association for Business Economics, where the Federal Reserve Chair said that the central bank was unlikely to keep cutting rates aggressively, as it did with a 50 basis point cut two weeks ago, unless the economy underperforms their expectations.
US bonds slid. Yields on the policy-sensitive two-year Treasury note ticked higher by nearly 8 basis points. 10-year treasury yields also moved up.
Most S&P sector ETFs advanced as well. Materials was down the most by 0.6%, while real estate, the biggest gainer of the day, finished up 0.9%.
CVS rose 2.4% on Monday, after the Wall Street Journal reported that hedge fund Glenview Capital Management planned to meet with the executives at the company to propose ways that could improve its operations. Solventum Corporation, a spinoff of 3M health care, and Intuitive Surgical, a health care equipment company, were also among the best S&P 500 performers of the day.
