Health care, materials, tech sectors gain; Pfizer, CoreWeave surge on major deals
The three major New York stock indices closed higher for the third consecutive trading day. Concerns over the U.S. federal government's temporary shutdown (shutdown) are being interpreted as a factor increasing the likelihood of the Federal Reserve (Fed) cutting policy rates.
On the 30th (local time), the Dow Jones 30 Industrial Average at the New York Stock Exchange closed at 46,397.89, up 81.82 points (0.18%) from the previous session. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index rose 27.25 points (0.41%) to 6,688.46, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 68.86 points (0.31%) to 22,660.01.
The market showed weakness during the session due to growing concerns over a potential U.S. government shutdown but rebounded in the latter half as investors noted that past shutdowns had not lasted long.
By sector, gains were seen in health care (2.45%), materials (0.55%), and technology (0.86%). Meanwhile, financials fell 0.45% amid contracting consumer sentiment, and energy dropped 1.07% following a sharp decline in international oil prices.
Among individual stocks, Pfizer rose 6.83% after announcing a $70 billion (approximately 98 trillion Korean won) investment in the U.S. in exchange for a three-year tariff deferral. CoreWeave surged 11.70% after revealing a computing power supply contract with Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, worth up to $14.2 billion (approximately 20 trillion Korean won). This also lifted NVIDIA, a GPU supplier, by 2.60%.
Airlines weakened due to concerns over potential air traffic controller shortages from the shutdown. Southwest Airlines fell 2.59%, United Airlines dropped 2.17%, and Delta Air Lines declined 1.58%.
Investors are increasingly viewing the shutdown as a potential catalyst for the Fed to cut interest rates.
Adam Krisafuly, an analyst at Vital Knowledge, said, "Investors had largely anticipated the shutdown and are maintaining a wait-and-see approach. However, concerns will grow if it extends beyond two weeks."