Stocks climb back as North Korea worries ease
The Dow climbed back near the 22,000 mark during Monday trading, as Wall Street put a volatile week of North Korean threats in the rear-view mirror.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 135 points, or 0.62%, to 21,993. The S&P 500 climbed 24.5 points, or 1%, to 2,465. The Nasdaq Composite gained 83.7 points, or 1.3%, to 6,340.
Rising tensions last week between North Korea and the U.S. put the brakes on a record run for stocks. The Kim regime, which has accelerated ballistic missile tests in recent months, threatened to attack the U.S. territory of Guam, and President Donald Trump warned that the U.S. is ready to respond with “fire and fury.” The comments cast a shadow over the market, which had steadily climbed higher in July amid strong corporate earnings and optimism surrounding federal tax reform.
Stocks exhibited some relief after top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, emphasized diplomatic efforts to resolve the North Korean crisis. In an article published by the Wall Street Journal, Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrote that the U.S. and other nations are “applying diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to achieve the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
The CBOE Volatility Index, known as the market’s “fear gauge,” retreated 21.3%.
Safe-haven assets also reversed course on Monday after posting gains last week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose to 2.223% from 2.191%. Yields move in the opposite direction of prices. Gold fell $6.30, or 0.5%, to $1,287 a troll ounce.
Nymex West Texas Intermediate oil dropped $1.23 cents, or 2.5%, to $47.59 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading 2.8% lower at $50.64.
With bond yields up, financials helped lead the rally in stocks. Real-estate companies were the top performers on the session. Chip makers and data-storage providers carried technology names, as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) all posted strong gains.
Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) surged 8.5% following a report that the Italian-American automaker has received buyout interest from Chinese suitors. At least one Chinese car company reportedly made an unsuccessful offer to acquire Fiat Chrysler, whose CEO Sergio Marchionne has long sought a merger.
VF Corp. (NYSE:VFC) gained 3.1% on news that the Timberland and Wrangler owner plans to buy the Dickies and Workrite brands for $820 million.