More records broken by US stocks

Stimulus measures announced by the European Central Bank (ECB) yesterday (June 5th) helped the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 to continue to hit record highs.

Both indexes have been pushing to fresh heights in recent weeks and have continued to do so in the last few days. The ECB announced that it cut its main interest rate from 0.25 per cent to 0.15 per cent on the back of falling inflation, in a move designed to spark an economic boost.

The Dow Jones was 0.6 per cent higher over the course of the day to close at 16,836.11, up by almost 100 points over the day, while a new intra-day high of 16,845.81 was also recorded by the index. Meanwhile, on the S&P 500 it was a similar story, as it hit all-time closing high 1940.46 after rising 0.6 per cent for the session, while it reached an intra-day high of 1941.74.

And it was a clean sweep for the main stock markets in the US yesterday, as the Nasdaq composite index rose in value by more than one per cent to end the session at 4296.23.

Records broken

The S&P 500 has been making headlines all year after it was comfortably outperformed by global rivals such as the Nikkei in Japan over the course of 2013. Yesterday was the 17th time since the turn of the year that the index has closed at a new record high.

An interest rates cut had been widely anticipated by the ECB, which had hinted in advance that it was considering imposing a reduction in a bid to stimulate economic growth. The bank's leader Mario Draghi also revealed a set of new measures designed to boost the eurozone.

"Expectations were for them to take action and the market is applauding the action that has been taken," David Levy, portfolio manager at Kenjol Capital Management, told AFP.

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