- Dow flirting with its closing record as shares of Boeing and Goldman rise
- Trump plans new sanctions on Iran
- Casino operator Caesars Entertainment agrees to $8.6 billion buyout by Eldorado
Stock benchmarks on Monday attempted to gain altitude, extending last week’s sharp gains, as investors look ahead to a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, while also tracking tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.12% rose 52 points, or 0.2%, to 26,770, while S&P 500 SPX, +0.00% added 0.1% to 2,953, a gain of about 3 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.11% edged 3 points, or less than 0.1%, higher to 8,034.
Stocks edged lower Friday but booked weekly gains that have the Dow on track for its best June performance since 1938 and it is just 0.4% away from its all-time closing high set in October. The Dow rose 2.4% last week, while the S&P 500 logged a 2.2% gain. The Nasdaq saw a 3% weekly advance.
Need to Know: Why you should ‘keep your eyes open’ during this June rally
Trump and Xi are set to meet Friday and Saturday this week at a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, with investors looking for signs the leaders can work out a truce in a trade war that has raised concerns about global economic growth and corporate earnings.
Read: How the Trump-Xi trade meeting could set the stock-market tone for the summer
“All the attention will be on Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and whether they can dial down the mood music on trade which of late has been set at death metal levels,” said Russ Mould, director at AJ Bell Investment, in a note. “The outcome could help set the tone for the markets over the remainder of the summer.”
Other geopolitical concerns also remain in focus, with the U.S. planning to impose new sanctions on Iran despite a diplomatic push by European leaders to tone down tensions between Washington and Iran. The U.S. has blamed Iran for attacks on tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran last week shot down a U.S. drone. Trump on Friday said he canceled a retaliatory strike against Iran.
U.S. oil futures CLQ19, -0.70% were higher Monday, while global benchmark Brent crude BRNQ19, -1.21% flipped between small gains and losses.
On Wall Street’s radar
Shares of Caesars Entertainment Corp. CZR, +16.37% jumped after the casino operator agreed to be bought out by Eldorado Resorts Inc. ERI, -9.22% in a deal that values the casino operator at $8.6 billion. Eldorado shares were off 7% ahead of the opening bell.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s shares GS, +0.91% were contributing about 15 points to the price-weighted Dow, while shares of aeronautics and defense contractor Boeing Co. BA, +0.41% were adding another 15 points. A dollar move in any one of the 30 blue-chip components of the Dow equates to a roughly 6.8-point swing.
Shares of Palatin Technologies Inc. PTN, -8.21% jumped 27% after the Food and Drug Administration granted marketing approval for a treatment for hypoactive sexual desire disorder, triggering a $60 million milestone payment.
Shares of auto maker Daimler AG DAI, -3.68% fell more than 4% in German trading after it warned that second-quarter profits would be high by increased charges surrounding problems with diesel vehicles from its Mercedes-Benz brand. Daimler also downgraded its full-year earnings forecast.
Daimler’s performance weighed on Germany’s DAX stock index DAX, -0.57% while European stocks traded mostly lower. The Stoxx 600 Europe Index SXXP, -0.26% was off 0.1%.
A weak reading for a closely followed German business sentiment index did little to soothe worries over the global economic outlook. The Ifo business-climate index fell to 97.4 in June, its lowest since November 2014, from 97.9 in May. Economists had forecast a reading of 97.6.
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