Stocks shook off a wobbly start on Wall Street and closed broadly higher Monday, adding to the market’s recent run of solid gains.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% after wavering between small gains and losses in the early going. Banks, companies that depend on consumer spending and communications companies accounted for a big slice of the gains. Health care was the only sector to fall. Bond yields were mostly higher, another sign of optimism among traders. Oil prices fell.
Investors are balancing cautious optimism about the reopening of businesses shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic against worries that the civil unrest across the U.S. over police brutality and racism could disrupt the economic recovery and widen the outbreak.
The daily protests, which began last week in Minneapolis and have since turned violent in multiple cities, are not weighing on the stock market, at least so far.
“The market has been expecting a springtime for economic activity,” said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management. “If these events derail the animal spirits that the markets have been counting on across the country, then I think they will have an impact. But investors are dismissing it as a short-term, non-event.”