US: S&P 500, Nasdaq end at records on US infrastructure deal

[NEW YORK] The S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh records Thursday after US President Joe Biden reached a deal with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on a large infrastructure package.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 1 per cent at 34,196.82, with strong gains by industrial and financial companies.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 per cent to 4,266.49, an all-time high, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.7 per cent to 14,369.71, its third straight record.

After weeks of negotiations, a breakthrough on a tentative infrastructure agreement came late Wednesday after senators agreed on a US$973 billion package over five years, with some US$559 billion in new funding.

However, the package is still far from a done deal, as Biden's Democratic party is pressing for significant spending on a "human infrastructure" package expected to be considered in parallel legislation.

The agreement is the "first good news we've had on infrastructure," said Art Hogan, chief strategist at National Securities.

Analysts also described Thursday's batch of economic data as benign, with the government confirming strong 6.4 per cent first quarter growth in the United States.

Other government data showed a rise in durable goods orders in May and a modest decline in weekly jobless claims.

Among individual stocks, Eli Lilly jumped 7.3 per cent as the drugmaker received a "breakthrough therapy" designation for an investigational antibody therapy for Alzheimer's disease.

AFP