Dow And S&P 500 Reach New Record Highs

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday, adding to the modest gains posted in the previous session. A batch of largely upbeat economic data helped the markets extend their recent upward trend.

Health insurance stocks showed a substantial move to the upside, driving the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index up by 3.1 percent. With the gain, the index reached a record closing high.

UnitedHealth (UNH) helped to lead the health insurance sector higher, surging up by 6.5 percent after reporting better than expected second quarter earnings.

Considerable strength was also visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain posted by the KBW Bank Index. Strong gains by PNC Financial (PNC) and Bank of America (BAC) helped lift the index to its best closing level in almost five years.

Natural gas stocks also turned in a strong performance, moving higher along with the price of natural gas. With natural gas for August delivery climbing $0.183 to $3.812 per million BTUs, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index advanced by 1.8 percent.

Transportation, oil service, and brokerage stocks also posted notable gains on the day, moving higher along with most of the major sectors.

Meanwhile, some semiconductor stocks came under pressure following disappointing earnings news from Intel (INTC), helping limit the upside for the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

While the Nasdaq underperformed its counterparts, the major averages all ended the day in positive territory. The Nasdaq edged up 1.28 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 3,611.28, while the Dow rose 78.20 points or 0.5 percent to 15,548.54 and the S&P 500 climbed 8.46 points or 0.5 percent to 1,689.37.

The Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record intraday highs during the session and ended the day at new record closing highs. The Nasdaq also set a new multi-year highs.