Stocks rallied again Thursday, with some of the broader benchmarks racing to record highs thanks to strong contributions from the financial services sector. That group is the second-largest sector weight in the S&P 500, a making it a key driver of that index’s performance.
The S&P 500 closed higher by 0.53% after touching another record while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.73%. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.57%.
On a strong day for U.S. stocks, Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) were among the stocks delivering impressive showings.
Citigroup Inc (C)
Rising in sympathy with the rest of the financial services sector and ahead of its second-quarter earnings report before the open of U.S. markets Friday, Citigroup Inc advanced 2.6% on above-average volume.
Wall Street expects C to post earnings of $1.10 per share, down from $1.45 a year earlier. Analysts are forecasting C revenue of $17.47 billion, down from $19.16 billion a year earlier.
C has been shedding some assets over the past year, hence the expected decline in revenue.
“Analysts will want to know about the bank’s plans for dealing with fallout from the U.K.’s Brexit vote, which could include a slowdown in M&A and stock-underwriting in Europe,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)
Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co., a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 1.5% after the New York-based bank posted a second-quarter profit of $6.2 billion, or $1.55 a share, on revenue of $25.2 billion.
Analysts expected JPM to earn $1.43 a share on revenue of $24.5 billion. Increased trading revenue for JPM, the largest U.S. bank by assets, helped the second-quarter results. JPM’s trading revenue was up 13% from a year earlier to $6.5 billion.
“The business was bolstered by a 35% rise in fixed income trading revenues on strong performance in interest rate and currency trading,” according to Forbes.
Monsanto Company (MON)
Agriculture products maker Monsanto climbed nearly 3.1% on more than double the average daily volume after receiving a sweetened takeover offer from suitor Bayer AG.
German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer raised its offer for Missouri-based MON to $64 billion. Bayer’s new offer for MON is believed to be the largest all-cash offer ever.
Bayer is now offering $125 per share for MON, up from a prior offer of $122 a share. The German company is also offering MON “a $1.5 billion reverse antitrust breakup fee,” according to Reuters.
MON is expected to review the offer.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.
