Wall St closes higher, pushing S&P 500 past 4,000 level

New York: Wall Street kicked April off with a milestone Thursday, as a tech company rally helped drive the S&P 500 past the 4,000 mark for the first time.

The benchmark index finished 1.2 per cent higher a day after closing out the first three months of the year with its fourth straight quarterly gain. Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Google's parent company were among the winners, along with smaller companies, which stand to benefit from a quickly growing economy.

Health care, household goods stocks and utilities were the only laggards. Technology stocks benefited from another drop in bond yields, which have been the driving force for the market for several weeks. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note fell to 1.69 per cent from 1.73 per cent the day before.

Higher bond yields make stocks seem more expensive by comparison, and tech stocks are among the most expensive after their significant rise last year. Microsoft rose 2.8 per cent, Facebook gained 1.4 per cent, Amazon.com added 2.2 per cent and Google parent Alphabet closed 3.3 pe rcent higher. "What a great way to start the second quarter," said J J Kinahan, chief strategist with TD Ameritrade. "There's money out there looking to be put to work, and with the quarter ending it looks like people are finding new ways in a new quarter to find opportunities." The S&P 500 rose 46.98 to 4,019.87.

The index's latest all-time high is its second in seven days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 171.66 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 33,153.21. The technology-heavy Nasdaq climbed 233.23 points, or 1.8 per cent, to 13,480.11. Smaller companies continued to notch solid gains. The Russell 2000 index picked up 33.38 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 2,253.90. The rally capped a holiday-shortened week for the stock market.

US stock exchanges will be closed in observance of Good Friday, though bond trading will be open for half a day, closing at noon Eastern. Companies that would benefit from greater sales of electric vehicles also rose Thursday, a day after President Joe Biden outlined various measures to support their use as part of his massive infrastructure plan. Part of that plan includes installation of thousands of additional charging stations around the country. Electric vehicle charger operator ChargePoint gained 11.8 per cent. Investors continue to monitor news about how well the US economy is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, now that millions of vaccines are being administered daily to Americans as well as around the world.