© Reuters.
by Daniel Shvartsman
Investing.com – In a fitting note to end 2021 trading, the energy and tech sectors have driven markets to all-time highs as of Monday afternoon.
The set an all-time high in Monday’s trading, passing the 4775 mark. At 1:30pm ET (1830 GMT) the index was up to 4778, +1.1% on the day. The was up 1.2% while the traded up 248 points, good for a .69% gain. The leading small-cap index, the , rallied from a low open to be up .46%.
The standout sectors for the day’s trading were the energy sector and the tech sector. On the energy front, recovered from a pre-market sell-off to , as concerns that the various travel cancellations might impede the demand recovery for oil in the short term faded and hope over . were up 3.3% in mid-day trading. APA Corporation was the top performer on the S&P 500 in mid-day, riding the oil tailwind as well as over an agreement with Egypt. Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:) and Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:) were also standouts, up 5% and 3.9% respectively.
The tech sector traded higher on no specific news. Semiconductors were the standout performer, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:) up 2.3%. Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:) was the biggest large-cap semiconductor mover, up 5%, though smaller caps like Himax Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:) (+9%) and semiconductor equipment makers like Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:) (3.8%) also joined in the fun. The tech sector’s rise has been more widespread today, with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:) leading the Dow at +1.8%, and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:) being one of the top performers on the S&P 500 at +4.2%. Security software provider Fortinet (NASDAQ:) is up 5.3% and networking equipment maker Arista Networks (NYSE:) is up 4.6%.
While the holiday week sees both low trading volumes and limited market moving events, the steadiest news is around the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite a bevy of in the U.S. and beyond, investors have been content to focus on reports of Omicron’s lower severity as a sign that biting restrictions on the economy and consumer behavior are unlikely.
Airlines, including Delta Airlines (NYSE:), United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:), and American Airlines (NASDAQ:), pared earlier losses on news of the cancellations, with DAL and UAL down about .9% in mid-day trading and AAL down .5%. Boeing Co (NYSE:) is down .9%, as is Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:), perhaps related to these concerns, though trading in the travel sector is uneven today.
Cruise lines are also among the day’s losers, trading lower on reports of on ships operated by Royal Caribbean (NYSE:) (-1.8%) and Carnival Corporation (NYSE:) (-1.25%), with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:) down 2.6% amid of the issue.
Beyond that, a couple small-cap stocks in the medical sector are showing the feast or famine nature of the industry: Microbot Medical (NASDAQ:) is up on news it will collaborate with Stryker (NYSE:)’s Neurovascular unit to combine its neurovascular instruments with Microbot’s LIBERTY Robotic System to create what they described as the world’s first dedicated robotic procedural kits for use in neurovascular procedures. BridgeBio Pharma (NASDAQ:), meanwhile, is down 70%+ after its Phase 3 trial to reach its primary endpoint.
has pushed towards session highs, now up 2.8% in the last 24 hours to around $51,500. is up .5% while is the cryptocurrency standout of the day, up over 7.3%.
Other leading stocks in Monday trading include Ralph Lauren Corp Class A (NYSE:) (3.6%), Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:) (7.1%), and Upstart (NASDAQ:) (10%). Among losers are Las Vegas Sands Corp (NYSE:) (-2.1%), Shopify Inc (NYSE:) (-1.9%), and Novavax (NASDAQ:) (-10.5%).
Meme stocks are also in the spotlight again to round out 2021, as GameStop Corp (NYSE:) is off 2% after Ascendiant Capital on the video game retailer and lowered its price target. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:) flipped from red to green and is now up 1.6%, as the news of the new Spiderman movie crossing the $1B box office mark, the first movie to do so since the onset of the pandemic, may be a tailwind (though these stocks tend to generate their own energy).
News Corp A (NASDAQ:) is up 1.6% with the market after news it would be buying Base Chemicals, a data publication, from S&P Global Inc (NYSE:) and IHS Markit Ltd (NYSE:) as part of the latter two companies’ merger process.
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(Published at 10:15am ET, updated at 11:57am ET and at 1:31pm ET)
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