UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc

By Lauren Almeida 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose a fourth straight day, pushing the blue-chip index above its record closing level in intraday trading Wednesday.

The Dow industrials surpassed their Oct. 3 milestone soon after the opening bell and would be the last of the major stock indexes to hit a new record this year. Shares of Johnson & Johnson and UnitedHealth Group led the 30-stock index higher, as investors continued their steady buying of stocks this week.

The Dow added 57 points, or 0.2%, to 26845, while the S&P 500 gained 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite also rose, adding 0.3%. The Dow also previously topped its record closing level in intraday trading last month but fell back below the record before markets closed.

Stocks have been climbing higher, albeit slowly, since last weekend's trade truce eased investors' fears of an all-out trade war between the world's two biggest economies. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are all up at least 1% so far this week.

Still, investors aren't entirely convinced that the U.S. and China are close to a final agreement that would remove tariffs on imports, analysts said, likely why the Dow and other indexes haven't risen toward bigger gains this week.

UnitedHealth led the Dow higher Wednesday, adding 1%, while Johnson & Johnson climbed 1.1%. Most other stocks in the index notched modest gains, while Boeing, Walmart and 3M edged lower.

Among the S&P 500, shares of Symantec rose the most, adding 15% after the company landed takeover interest from Broadcom, which declined 2.4% in recent trading.

Meanwhile, German 10-year government bond yields slid to a record low Wednesday on expectations that the European Central Bank's likely new president, Christine Lagarde. Lagarde, will pursue more easy-money policies.

Other bond yields also fell in Europe as investors bet on more interest-rate cuts and bond buying to come as the continent suffers low growth and low inflation rates. Italy's 10-year bond yields fell to 1.703%, while U.S. yields were down to 1.953% from 1.978% on Tuesday. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Analysts anticipate Ms. Lagarde will oversee further quantitative easing, following her statement after the G-20 meeting that the global economy has hit a rough patch, with trade as the primary risk.

"She advised central banks to continue to adjust their policies with incoming data," said Daniele Antonucci, chief euro-area economist at Morgan Stanley. "Market participants, in our view, will probably place her in the dovish camp."

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.8%, led by the food and beverage sectors, utilities and health-care companies. Shares in JD Sports Fashion were up almost 3% after the company said it expected its profit to meet analysts' forecasts, taking its gains for this year to 78% and making it one of Europe's best-performing stocks in 2019.

Asian stock markets fell, with South Korea leading losses as the Kospi slipped 1.2% after the country lowered growth and inflation forecasts. Consumer prices are expected to rise 0.9% in 2019 rather than 1.6% as previously forecast. Chinese stocks in Shanghai were down 0.9%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was 0.1% lower.

Paul J. Davies contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 03, 2019 10:10 ET (14:10 GMT)

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