S&P 500, Dow notch record closing highs, crude slumps

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks ended higher with a boost from technology shares amid light Columbus Day trading on Monday, while crude prices dipped as investors parsed signs of economic softness in China and girded themselves for a string of high-profile corporate earnings.

Megacap tech-adjacent growth stocks provided much of the upside muscle, putting the Nasdaq out front.

The S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow both nabbed fresh record closing highs.

"Today is obviously kind of an anomaly of a day because of the lack of economic data and the closure of the bond market," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia. "Momentum is on the upside until something changes."

"The smattering of earnings so far have been pretty good," Tuz added. "We’ll see what this coming week brings."

Oil prices dipped and the dollar was flat as dour news from China stoked fears of softening global demand.

On Saturday, Beijing pledged to "significantly increase" debt in its attempt to breathe life into the world's second-largest economy, but disappointed investors with its lack of detail.

This was followed on Monday by a report showing a sharp deceleration in Chinese export growth, which missed expectations by a wide margin, underscoring the need for robust stimulus.

"China is having economic difficulties," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist of CFRA Research in New York. "Oil prices are another indication of lack of confidence that China will be able to pull itself up by its own boot straps, primarily because the stimulus details are so sketchy."

The bond market was closed in observance of Columbus Day, and there were no earnings reports or economic data to sway investor sentiment.

That will change later in the week, with retail sales, industrial production, and housing starts/building permits, among the scheduled data releases.

High-profile earnings on tap for the rest of the week include Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Netflix, along with a host of healthcare and industrial names.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 203.14 points, or 0.47%, to 43,067.00, the S&P 500 rose 45.17 points, or 0.78%, to 5,860.20 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 159.75 points, or 0.87%, to 18,502.69.

European shares reached a two-week high at the close of a choppy session as investors mostly shrugged off China's stimulus plans and focused on earnings season and a European Central Bank policy meeting due later this week.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 4.37 points, or 0.51%, to 857.10.

The STOXX 600 index rose 0.53%, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 11.55 points, or 0.56%.

Emerging market stocks rose 0.21 points, or 0.02%, to 1,159.77. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.02% lower 0.02%, at 613.46, while Japan's Nikkei rose 224.91 points, or 0.57%, to 39,605.80.

The dollar touched a ten-week high against a basket of world currencies, extending a run sparked by economic data supporting modest interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.18% to 103.23, with the euro down 0.31% at $1.0903. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.42% to 149.76.

Crude prices dipped as OPEC lowered its 2024 and 2025 oil demand growth view, while China's oil imports dropped for the fifth straight month.

U.S. crude fell 2.29% to $73.83 per barrel, while Brent fell to $77.46 per barrel, down 2.00% on the day.

Gold backed down from a one-week high in opposition to the greenback's strength.

Spot gold fell 0.12% to $2,652.68 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.09% to $2,655.30 an ounce.

(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe and Alun John in London; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Jonathan Oatis and Aurora Ellis)