Nasdaq Reaches 16-Month High
Some traders may have struggled to stay awake through Wednesday’s stock market session, but there was enough action to push the Nasdaq composite index to a 16-month high.
In other markets, gold prices surged to a six-month high. Bond yields rose.
Amid slow trading volume heading into the long Labor Day weekend, blue-chip stock indexes were little changed.
The Dow industrials slipped 6.66 points to 9,333.79. The Standard & Poor’s 500 inched up 0.06 point to 996.79.
But demand for tech shares lifted the Nasdaq index 11.48 points, or 0.7%, to 1,782.13, its highest close since April 19, 2002.
Despite what some market pessimists say are high valuations on many tech stocks, the shares have surged anew in recent weeks.
“The economy is getting better and personal computers are very old in the United States,” so sales of computers should pick up, Mark Herskovitz, who manages $900 million in tech stocks at Dreyfus Corp., told Bloomberg News. “I do think we have a ways to go yet” in the sector’s rally, he said.
Optimism about the economy also is encouraging more investors to sell bonds, on the expectation that market interest rates will continue to rise.
Yields ended higher Wednesday after an auction of $25 billion in new two-year Treasury notes saw tepid demand. The notes were sold at yield of 2.04%.
The 10-year T-note ended at 4.54%, up from 4.48% Tuesday.
In commodities trading, near-term gold futures soared $7.70 to $373.50 an ounce, a six-month high and nearing the metal’s peak of $379 reached in February -- which was the highest price since 1996.
Traders said gold benefited from renewed buying by Middle Eastern investors and technical trading related to the dollar.
Cattle futures jumped to a 10-year high because of strong demand for beef at a time of reduced supplies of slaughter-ready animals.
“Beef demand has been quite a story this year,” said Joe Kropf, a livestock analyst with Joe Kropf & Sid Love Consulting Services in Overland Park, Kan. Demand usually falls during the hot North American summer, when people opt for lighter foods. “That didn’t happen this year. The consumer acted like they couldn’t get enough beef.”
Cattle for delivery this month rose 1.5 cents to 84.05 cents a pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the highest price since March 1993.
Among Wednesday’s highlights:
* Semiconductor stocks rallied again. Semtech soared $3.21 to $21.65, PMC-Sierra gained $1.09 to $14.05, Intel added 31 cents to $28.02 and International Rectifier jumped $1.80 to $40.10.
* Other tech winners included Seagate, up $1.71 to $23.72; Qualcomm, up $1.47 to $41; and Western Wireless, up $1.26 to $18.40.
* Gold stocks rallied with the metal. Newmont Mining gained $1.42 to $39.16 and Barrick Gold was up 60 cents to $20.03.
* The Dow index was weighed down by 3M, off $1.19 to $142.95, and Procter & Gamble, down 42 cents to $87.25.
* Real estate investment trust shares were strong. Prentiss Properties rose 65 cents to $29.90, Vornado Realty was up 47 cents to $46.89 and SL Green Realty rose 74 cents to $35.30.
* Among Southland issues, Hanmi Financial surged $1.96, or 9.6%, to a record $22.39. FTN Midwest Research analyst Brett Rabatin recently upgraded the L.A.-based parent of Hanmi Bank to a “buy,” saying its fundamentals were improving and it was undervalued compared with other Korean American banks.
Irvine bank consultant Edward Carpenter said investors may have decided Hanmi would benefit from possible changes at rival Pacific Union Bank. Lone Star Funds, a Texas private equity group, agreed Wednesday to pay $1.2 billion for a 51% stake in Pacific Union’s majority shareholder, Seoul-based Korea Exchange Bank. Pacific Union shares rose 52 cents to $18.40.
* Sherman Oaks-based Neptune Society, which operates a cremation business, jumped 53 cents to $1.35. Investor Roy P. Disney said late Tuesday that he would acquire most of the company’s assets.
Market Roundup, C6-7
