Purchases have taken the indices to new heights

Purchases, especially in technology stocks, have taken the indices to new heights. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-Composite rose to all-time highs right at the start of trading. Investors were further encouraged by statements made by US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday. He had only sent vague signals as to when the Federal Reserve would begin rolling back its monthly bond purchases. He also insisted that the sharp rise in inflation was only a temporary phenomenon. His remarks had been interpreted to mean that the Fed was not in too much of a hurry with the so-called tapering. This had already boosted stocks and bonds on Friday. The Dow Jones index closed 0.2 percent lower at 35,400 points. The S&P 500 was up 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.9 percent. According to initial information, there were 1,431 (Friday: 2,731) course winners and 1,875 (568) course losers at Nyse. 121 (130) titles went unchanged from the market. However, concerns about inflation and doubts about the pace of the economic recovery were not allayed, especially as the news situation was thin. There were neither important economic data nor corporate events on the agenda. "I'm nervous about the market," said Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management. He pointed out that September is historically a difficult month for stocks. Financial stocks suffered from falling yields, which weighed on the Dow Jones index. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Amex lost up to 2.6 percent. In contrast, the tech giants were in demand again and drove the Nasdaq indices up. Apple rose 3 percent and Amazon rose 2.1 percent. Paypal rose in price by 3.6 percent. According to a media report, a new executive is set to lead efforts to invest in the consumer space. This is to enable stock trading via PayPal. Hill-Rom gained 9.7 percent. Baxter International (+ 2.7%) wants to buy the medical technology manufacturer for around 10 billion dollars, as informed people reported. Hill-Rom currently has a market capitalization of around $ 9 billion.