Dow, S&P 500 set records, Nasdaq flies high

Wall Street stocks finished at new records after a jam-packed week of economic news that culminated with a solid US jobs report on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 207.11 (1.24 percent) to 16,924.28, while the broad-based S&P 500 jumped 25.87 (1.34 percent) to 1,949.44. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tacked on 78.78 (1.86 percent) to 4,321.40. The Dow and S&P 500 stand at all-time records, while the Nasdaq is at its highest level since mid-March. On Thursday, stocks barrelled higher following a series of new measures from the ECB, which lowered all 3 of its key interest rates, including putting the deposit rate into negative territory for the first time, meaning banks will be charged for depositing their excess cash with the central bank. The move signaled that ‘global liquidity will remain high’ even as the US Federal Reserve scales back stimulus. Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, described investor sentiment as ‘calm, confident and collected.’ Highlights in the week included May auto sales that exceeded expectations and a confident appraisal of economic conditions in the US Federal Reserve's ‘Beige Book.’ In corporate news, Japan's Dai-ichi Life Insurance announced it was buying US insurer Protective Life for $5.7 billion, as it seeks to broaden its overseas business beyond Asia by entering the world's biggest market for insurance sold to consumers. A major acquisition battle in the food industry continued to heat up. Brazil-owned US chicken processor Pilgrim's Pride sharply raised it bid for Hillshire Brands to about $7.7 billion, more than the $6.8 billion offered by US rival Tyson Foods for Hillshire. Hillshire said it would consider both the Pilgrim's Pride and Tyson offers, even as it kept alive its own acquisition plan, a $6.6 billion buyout of Pinnacle Foods. In non-merger news, General Motors released an internal investigation into its delayed decision to recall cars following an ignition problem linked to at least 13 deaths. GM chief executive Mary Barra said the probe concluded there had been no concerted effort to hide the problem for more than a decade, instead showing a ‘deeply troubling’ history of ‘incompetence and neglect,’ according to AFP.