Dow and S&P advance with blue-chip index hitting record

The Dow and S&P advanced on Tuesday, with the blue-chip index hitting a record, while another drop in Facebook shares weighed on the Nasdaq.

Dividend-paying sectors such as utilities, up 1.4 per cent and consumer staples, up 0.6 per cent were the best performing of the major S&P sectors. Facebook, Netflix and Amazon, part of the so-called FANG group of stocks, kept the Nasdaq in check.

The Dow was boosted by names such as Boeing and Caterpillar investors remained upbeat in those trade-sensitive names in the wake of the trade agreement negotiated between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

"This is really a story about dividends, old-line, blue-chip names outperforming what had previously been the market leaders," said Peter Kenny, founder, Kenny’s Commentary LLC and Strategic Board Solutions LLC in New York.

"They have been underperforming the broader market and the FANGs for quite some time and it appears as though that rotation is now taking place."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 154.76 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 26,805.97, the S&P 500 gained 3.5 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 2,928.09 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 20.26 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 8,017.04.

Facebook, fell 1.50 per cent and was on track for a third straight decline, which has seen the stock fall more than 5 per cent amid continuing calls to use legislation to force technology firms to take responsibilities for online security seriously on the heels of a data breach disclosure last week.

The NYSE FANG+TM index, an equal-weighted index of five core FANG stocks, was down 4.2 per cent for September.

The smallcap Russell 2000 index was off 0.82 per cent. Smaller names had been viewed as being more insulated to trade pressures and are now down nearly 5 per cent from their Aug. 31 high.

Financials were little changed, shaking off earlier losses stemming from a drop in Italian banks after a senior lawmaker in one of Italy's ruling parties said most of the country's problems would be resolved if it readopted a national currency.

"That is really a blip, it definitely doesn’t bleed through to the U.S. financial infrastructure," Kenny said.

PepsiCo lost 1.62 per cent as disappointing margins due to higher commodity and transport costs overshadowed a quarterly profit that beat estimates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.19-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.97-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 31 new highs and 110 new lows.

(With inputs from agencies.)