NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks set more records Monday as health care companies and banks continued to surge as investors grew more optimistic about the recovery in manufacturers.
Stocks got a boost after the Institute for Supply Management said U.S. factory activity hit a 13-year high in August as hurricanes disrupted supplies but drove up demand for manufactured goods. Investors snapped up shares of companies that are linked to more rapid economic growth, like banks and health care and industrial companies as well as smaller, U.S.-focused companies. High-dividend stocks, which are traditionally considered safer and more cautious investments, lagged the rest of the market. Energy companies missed out on the gains as investors worried that oil supplies are rising.
In the last few weeks, stocks have returned to the pattern they followed from the November presidential election to President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January: growth-oriented stocks have risen while the dollar has gotten stronger and bond yields have increased.
“We’ve seen this acceleration in global earnings growth over the last couple of months,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide Investment Management. “We’ve seen the rest of the world kind of pick up where the U.S. has been going.”
