Phone and bank stocks push indexes higher; Dow at record

United States stocks are expected to open higher on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average set to build on its record high struck the previous session.

But biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks tumbled on Wednesday after Trump promised in a Time magazine article that “I’m going to bring down drug prices”. Drug companies are taking steep losses after President-elect Donald Trump said he wants to reduce drug prices.

On Bay Street, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index advanced 111.95 points at 15,237.75, with 11 of the 13 TSX sectors finishing positive. Natural gas fell 3 cents to $3.60 per 1,000 cubic feet. Dow member Verizon climbed 61 cents, or 1%, to 50.36 U.S. dollars (£39.71) and AT&T rose 72 cents, or 2%, to 39.35 U.S. dollars (£31.01).

Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, setting another all-time high for the Dow Jones industrial average.

Sprint jumped 30 cents, or 4 percent, to $8.36, while T-Mobile rose $1.45, or 2.6 percent, to $56.48.

The S&P 500 index showed 63 new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 233 new highs and 24 new lows.

Mr Trump’s announcement that Japanese telecoms and internet firm SoftBank had agreed to invest $50bn in the U.S. also boosted markets, with Sprint shares rising 1.5%and T-Mobile gaining 1.8%.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 35.54 points, or 0.2 percent, to 19,251.78, a record high close.

The S&P 500 index gained about 0.6% and closed at 2,204.71. Sprint (S) jumped nearly 9% in NY and T-Mobile (TMUS) gained 4.3%, amid speculation T-Mobile it could be acquired, possibly by SoftBank. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index closed at 8063.81 for a gain of 54.78 points or 0.68%.

Among stocks, Western Digital rose 5.7 percent to $67.53 in premarket trading after the data storage maker raised its second-quarter profit and revenue forecasts.

Financials have climbed more than 15 percent since the November 8 election and are seen as one of the sectors particularly benefiting as President-elect Donald Trump seeks to pass economic stimulus and reduce corporate taxes and regulations.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 56 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $50.37 a barrel in NY. Brent crude, the worldwide standard, shed $1.01 to $53.93 a barrel in London.

“Financial stocks continue to be a major standout”, said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities. Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) was up more than two percent and Amazon.com, Inc. The CAC 40 of France picked up 1.4 percent.

The dollar rose to 113.75 yen from 113.67 yen.

ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.5 percent to close at 18,360.54. The euro rose to $1.0751 from $1.0756. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.8 per cent to 22,676.55 while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1 per cent higher to 3,207.19.

The February gold contract climbed $9.00 at $1,179.10 and the March copper contract lost 4 cents at $2.6400 per pound.