Dow soars to new high

Photo: The Canadian Press

Technology companies plunged Thursday, and high-dividend stocks also took hefty losses as bond yields rose to their highest level in more than a year. But more big gains for blue-chip banking and oil stocks pulled the Dow Jones industrial average to a record high.

Big names like Facebook and Oracle fell as technology companies took their biggest losses in two months. Rising bond yields pushed income-seeking investors away from real estate and utility companies. Health care stocks also slumped.

Banks continued to soar as investors expect them to make bigger profits on loans as interest rates rise. Oil prices climbed for the second day after the countries of OPEC agreed to trim oil production next year.

Karyn Cavanaugh, senior market strategist for Voya Investment Strategies, said a focus on President-elect Donald Trump's trade policies might be hurting tech stocks. On Thursday Trump toured a Carrier factory in Indiana after announcing the company will keep some operations at the facility instead of moving them to Mexico. He warned of consequences for companies that send jobs out of the country.

"If you're going to bring jobs back to America and make stuff here, tech is going to be pretty vulnerable," she said. "If there's going to be a trade war, tech is pretty vulnerable."

The Dow gained 68.35 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 19,191.93, its highest close on record. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 7.73 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 2,191.08. The Nasdaq composite fell 72.57 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 5,251.11.

Stock indexes set records after the presidential election last month, but lately they have wobbled as different industries were pulled in opposite directions. Banks and industrial and materials companies are rising while tech stocks have weakened.

Bond prices continued to tumble, sending benchmark yields higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.44 per cent from 2.38 per cent, its highest since July 2015. That sent bank stocks higher because higher bond yields are linked to higher interest rates, which allow banks to make more money from lending.

Goldman Sachs jumped $7.34, or 3.3 per cent, to $226.63 and JPMorgan Chase picked up $1.62, or 2 per cent, to $81.79. Goldman is trading at its highest price since December 2007.

Facebook skidded $3.32, or 2.8 per cent, to $115.10 and chipmaker Analog Devices dropped $5.23, or 7 per cent, to $69.01. Microsoft lost $1.06, or 1.8 per cent, to $59.20.

After a big gain Wednesday, the dollar slipped to 114.04 yen from 114.22 yen. The euro rose to $1.0645 from $1.0599. In the last few weeks the dollar has reached a 13-year high compared to other currencies. A strong dollar hurts profits and sales for companies that do a lot of business overseas, and the technology companies on the S&P 500 get almost 60 per cent of their revenue outside the U.S.

Oil prices rallied again and reached their highest level since mid-October. Benchmark U.S. crude picked up $1.62, or 3.3 per cent, to close at $51.06 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the standard for pricing international oils, added $2.10, or 4.1 per cent, to $53.94 a barrel in London. Chevron gained $1.73, or 1.6 per cent, to $113.29 and Phillips 66 rose $1.90, or 2.3 per cent, to $84.98.

The price of oil soared 9 per cent Wednesday after the members of OPEC, which collectively produce more than one-third of the world's oil, agreed to a small cut in production starting in January. The price of oil has mostly traded between $40 and $50 a barrel since early April. It dipped as low as $26 a barrel in February.