LONDON: U.S. stocks advanced Monday, with Nasdaq reaching an all-time closing high, as investors grew more optimistic that a breakthrough in talks between Greece and its lenders is possible.
Stocks also got a boost from deal news in the health care and energy sectors.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 103.83 points, or 0.6 percent, to end at 18,119.78. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 12.86 points, or 0.6 percent, to finish at 2,122.85, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 36.97 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at its new record of 5,153.97.
European nations were cautiously optimistic on Monday that a deal on Greece’s bailout was within reach this week, easing fears that the country would default on its debt and leave the euro region. The country needs more loans from European lenders and the International Monetary Fund to enable it to make a June 30 debt payment.
Greece and its creditors have been negotiating for months over what economic reforms the Mediterranean nation should implement in return for the loans. U.S. stocks slumped earlier this month, in part on investors’ concerns that a Greek default could potentially cause turmoil in global financial markets.
“An 11th-hour compromise was always the likely scenario, and it looks like that is what we are getting,” said Russ Koesterich, global chief investment strategist at BlackRock.
