US open: Wall Street jumps back towards record highs

Wall Street's main market averages bounded back towards their most recent record highs with the prior week's worries about North Korea and Hurricane Irma apparently receding in the rearview mirror.

At 1600 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.96% or 210.01 points ahead to 22,008.39, as the S&P 500 added 0.82% or 20.02 points to 2,481.48 and the Nasdaq Composite 0.90% or 57.0 points to trade at 6,417.56.

Pacing gains at the start of the week, the best areas of the market were: Aluminum (3.87%), Property & Casualty (3.60%) and Recreational Services (3.10%).

Investors had been worried that North Korea would launch more missile tests over the weekend as it celebrated its 69th anniversary.

Yet as Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "Fortunately, this never materialised, with Kim Jong Un instead using the celebration to recognise the previous weekend's achievements, allowing investors the opportunity to unwind some of the safe haven trades from the days before."

In a typical risk-on move, the US dollar strengthened by 1.03% verus the yen to 108.94 with the December gold contract on COMEX off by 0.86% at $1,339.50/oz..

"Indices, which have been in consolidation over the last month or so, are now expected to enjoy a mini relief rally although we should get interesting insight into just how much investors perceive the threat of an escalation to have subsided. The S&P 500 is still expected to open around 20 points or so from its highs and should it overcome them in the coming days, it would suggest optimism is returning," he said.

In parallel, Erlam added that with Hurricane Irma now downgraded to category one, there was hope that the devastation wreaked by the storm would not be as bad as feared, potentially bringing down the eventual bill.

"The debt ceiling can being kicked down the road a few months is also providing temporary relief but as always with this kind of thing, the problem has only been delayed rather than resolved."

Meanwhile, London Capital Group's Ipek Ozkardeskaya said the actual damages caused by Irma could end up being less than $50bn versus the $192bn estimate which some pundits had bandied about prior to it making landfall, meaning US insurers could take a breather on Monday.

Citi's James Naklicki concurred, telling clients: "In our view, a direct hit to Miami would have resulted in a plethora of capital raises for the Reinsurance industry, a theme that was at least partially priced in last week. Given the relatively less damaging path of Irma, we now see the risk of capital raises as a lot less likely.

"For now, the industry has dodged a bullet, but we are only a little over half way through Hurricane season (June 1 – Nov 30), so some risk remains."

On the corporate front, shares in Teva Pharmaceuticals were spiking to the top of the most active list on the NYSE after the outfit announced the appointment of Lundbeck's Kare Schultz as its new top dog.

Elsewhere, Tesla was also in the black after the electric car market sent out a free software update to temporarily extend the battery life of some of its cars to help owners evacuate Hurricane Irma.

Stock in Pilgrim's Pride was down after it announced the takeover of Northern Ireland's Moy Park in a $1.3bn transaction.

There were no major US data releases due in the first trading session of the week.

Dow Jones - Risers

Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $123.22 2.89%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $32.09 1.95%
American Express Co. (AXP) $85.81 1.85%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $221.12 1.80%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $35.77 1.66%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $144.71 1.59%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $89.81 1.57%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $161.10 1.56%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $65.14 1.36%
3M Co. (MMM) $208.32 1.28%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Home Depot Inc. (HD) $157.35 -1.45%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $117.61 -0.18%
General Electric Co. (GE) $23.79 -0.13%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $34.08 -0.06%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $83.93 0.00%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $79.07 0.24%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $46.44 0.29%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $46.25 0.31%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $97.45 0.39%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $79.21 0.50%

S&P 500 - Risers

Endo International Plc (ENDP) $9.15 4.93%
XL Group Ltd (XL) $40.36 4.53%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $17.27 4.07%
Mallinckrodt Plc Ordinary Shares (MNK) $36.66 3.76%
Legg Mason Inc. (LM) $37.82 3.70%
Chubb Corp. (CB) $145.83 3.54%
Alcoa Corporation (AA) $44.11 3.52%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $5.36 3.47%
Carnival Corp. (CCL) $67.83 3.45%
Assurant Inc. (AIZ) $93.80 3.34%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $444.12 -5.80%
Equifax Inc. (EFX) $117.41 -4.72%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $44.17 -4.18%
Extra Space Storage (EXR) $79.73 -3.06%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $31.06 -2.91%
Public Storage (PSA) $212.03 -2.88%
Martin Marietta Mtrl (MLM) $206.20 -2.74%
Vulcan Materials Co. (VMC) $118.64 -2.37%
United Rentals Inc. (URI) $124.15 -2.00%
Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW) $77.13 -1.82%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $275.45 5.95%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $358.57 4.42%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $45.02 3.26%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. - Ordinary Shares (NCLH) $56.84 3.12%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $97.27 3.09%
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $52.94 2.72%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $32.97 2.71%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $45.48 2.55%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $167.78 2.50%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $62.53 2.29%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $444.12 -5.80%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $31.06 -2.91%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $125.80 -2.83%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $37.83 -0.99%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $389.91 -0.76%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $197.65 -0.73%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $101.11 -0.72%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $84.49 -0.72%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $324.47 -0.57%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $271.78 -0.46%