Technology stocks led both the S&P500 and Nasdaq to fresh record highs - Dow fell -151-points or -0.44% , with Boeing Co fell -3.39% after regulators told the company it is not likely to receive certification for its long-range aircraft until mid-to-late 2023. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dave Calhoun earlier this month said it expected certification in the fourth-quarter of 2023. Chevron Corp -3.08%. Morgan Stanley rose over >2.5% in extended trading (after falling -0.79% in the regular session) after doubling its quarterly dividend to US$0.70c per shar and announced a new US$12B stock repurchase plan through until June 2022. Morgan Stanley’s new capital plan appeared to be among the most aggressive of the banks rushing to announce at the market close and comes after last week’s Federal Reserve stress tests that saw the central bank say that the biggest U.S. banks could easily withstand a severe recession, noting that all 23 institutions in the 2021 annual stress test remained “well above” minimum required capital levels during a hypothetical economic downturn. Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co also announced that they were hiking their capital payouts. The broader S&P500 added +0.23% to 4,290.61 to record its third consecutive record closing high and 32nd of 2021 after touching a fresh record intra-day high of 4,292.14 earlier in the session. Information Technology (up +1.11%) led seven of the eleven primary sectors higher. Energy (down -3.33%) was the worst performing primary sector. Carnival Corp fell -7.04% after the cruise operator said that it may sell up to US$500M in stock from time to time as part of an at-the-money equity offering program. United Airlines Holdings Inc fell -2.58% ahead of the carrier’s Investor Day tonight AEST. The Nasdaq gained +0.98% to 14,500.51, also clocking a fresh record intra-day peak (14,505.19). Facebook Inc rallied +4.18% and became the fifth US company to achieve a market capitalisation of US$1 trillion after a federal judge opted to dismiss an antitrust case that the Federal Trade Commission had brought against the social-media giant. Facebook’s market capitalisation hit a 2020 low of US$416.2B in March last year. Microsoft Corp (up +1.40%), Apple Inc (+1.25%), Amazon.com Inc (+1.05%) and Nvidia Corp (+5.01%) all logged solid gains. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 fell -0.52%.
