NEW YORK - The stock market edged higher Monday, extending a scorching start to July.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up 2.31 points to 1,682.50, rising for the eighth straight day, its longest streak of gains since January.
The S&P is up 4.8 percent so far in July, putting it on track to surpass a 5 percent gain in January.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 19.96 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 15,484.26.
Both the Dow and S&P are at all-time highs.
The Nasdaq composite rose 7.41 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,607.49.
Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was very light at 2.6 billion shares.
The gains continued a hot streak for the market this month. Stocks rose to record levels last week after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank would not ease its stimulus before the economy was ready. The central banker’s comments also stemmed a rise in Treasury yields.
“The general bias to the market is up,” said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds. “You can see a clear path to economic growth in the United States.”
Small-company stocks saw the biggest gains Monday. That’s a sign investors are becoming confident in taking on more risk in exchange for the possibility of greater returns. The Russell 2000 rose 6.78 points, or 0.7 percent, to1,043.30, bringing its gains for the year to 22.8 percent. That’s ahead of the S&P’s year-to-date gain of 18 percent.
Investors will be listening to comments from Bernanke again this week for more clues about the central bank’s outlook for the economy. The Fed chairman will give his semiannual testimony to Congress on Wednesday. The central bank is currently buying $85 billion of bonds a month to keep interest rates low and to encourage borrowing and hiring.
The pace of companies reporting earnings will also increase this week.
“We expect modest earnings gains and we expect that management teams will guide for a cautiously optimistic view in the second half,” said Jim Russell, a regional investment director at US Bank.
Earnings for the second quarter will rise by an average 3.2 percent for S&P 500 companies from a year ago, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. Earnings at financial companies are expected to rise by 18.8 percent, the most of any industry group.
Citigroup gained Monday, leading other bank stocks higher, after reporting earnings that beat analysts’ expectations for the second quarter as investment banking profits surged. The bank’s stock rose $1, or 2 percent, to $51.81.
A closely watched report on U.S. retail sales Monday morning had some disappointments for investors. Americans spent more at retail businesses in June, buying more cars and trucks, furniture and clothes, but they cut back on many other purchases, a mixed sign for economic growth. Retail sales rose just 0.4 percent from May, less than analysts had forecast and less than the 0.5 percent increase the previous month.
In commodities trading, the price of crude oil rose 37 cents to $106.32 a barrel. Gold rose $5.90, or 0.5 percent, to $1,283.50 an ounce. The dollar rose against the euro and the Japanese yen.
In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.55 percent from 2.58 percent Friday. The yield is used as a benchmark for many kinds of loans, including home mortgages.
Business, Pages 22 on 07/16/2013