June 30 (UPI) — The S&P 500 climbed for the fifth consecutive session on Wednesday, closing at another record high to end the second quarter of 2021.
At the end of trading Wednesday the S&P 500 had risen 0.13% to a record of 4,297.50, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 210.22, or 0.61%. The Nasdaq Composite lagged behind, falling 0.17%.
On the year to date, the S&P has gained 14%, placing it on pace for its best first half since 2019, led by the real estate, information technology and communication services sectors.
The Nasdaq and Dow each have risen 12% for the quarter spanning March through June.
Walmart stock rose 2.75% and Boeing gained 1.6% to lead the Dow higher. On the year Goldman Sachs, American Express and Walgreens have been the best performing Dow stocks, each rising more than 30%.
Jeff Kilburg, chief investment officer at Sanctuary Wealth, told CNBC he had a positive outlook for the remainder of the year, citing the Federal Reserve’s commitment to continued economic recovery.
“We can fight all we want about inflation, and we can fight about which metric we utilize for inflation, but I think at the end of the day we really are seeing the commitment the Fed’s going to have,” Kilburg said.
While stocks have turned in a strong performance to start the year, the 10-year treasury yield ended the quarter yielding just below 1.5% after hitting a peak of 1.77% in March. Cryptocurrencies have suffered in the second quarter with bitcoin falling to around $36,000 as of Tuesday from a high of $59,000.
“One of the big calls we’ve made is, stocks will outperform bonds, and that’s one of the big ways we’re constructing our portfolios,” Ryan Detrick, LPL Financial chief market strategist, told Yahoo Finance. “We still think that’s the play, that stocks will probably do better than bonds the second half of the year as the economy continues to improve, open up, and it’ll be led by those earnings which will justify pretty pricey multiples.”
