Stocks pared back early gains to end the first trading day of the week modestly higher on Wall Street, as investors have little in the way of economic datato distract them from speculating on what announcement, if any, will be made regarding Federal Treasury spending at the conclusion of the central bank’s monthly policy meeting next week.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended the day at a new record-high on a gain of 0.18 percent to 1,808.37 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up a slight 0.03 percent to 16,025.33 points, and the NASDAQ was 0.15 percent higher at 4,068.75.
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) dropped over 1 percent on the day, but the Dow got plenty of support on the upside with gains for General Electric (GE) , Microsoft (MSFT) , and oil & gas giant Chevron (CVX) .
On the S&P 500, major food retailer Sysco Corp. (SYY) closed the day nearly 10 percent higher on the most volume of any stock on the index after the announcement of its $3.5 billion merger with US Foods, a move that could increase the company’s sales by nearly 50 percent. Tech companies rose on heavy trading as well, with gains for Micron Technology (MU) , Intel (INTC) , and AT&T (T) .
On the NASDAQ, shares for Israeli medical appliance manufacturer Given Imaging Ltd. (GIVN) jumped over 27 percent by the closing bell after Sunday’s announcementthat the company was being purchased for $680 million by Covidien Plc. (COV) . Biotech firms Gilead Sciences (GILD) , Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA) , and Infinity Pharmaceuticals (INFI) also notched gains.
Social media/mobile-based techs performed well, with Facebook (FB) up nearly 2 percent and Groupon (GRPN) adding over 5.
