Stocks keep gaining as tech, industrial companies rise

Technology companies climbed Thursday as stocks rose for the fifth day in a row. They have now recovered about half their losses during the market’s dramatic plunge earlier this month.

Tech bellwether Cisco Systems jumped after it posted strong quarterly results and announced a big stock repurchase, while Apple rose after an analyst said sales of the iPhone X in China are improving. Most other parts of the market climbed as well, with notable gains for industrial companies and household goods makers. Energy companies continued to struggle.

It took stocks just nine days to skid from record highs into a 10 percent drop, known on Wall Street as a “correction.” Concerns about rising inflation contributed to the fall, but even though investors have seen more signs of inflation in the last few days, major indexes are on a five-day winning streak.

“The market should never have gone down 10.5 percent,” said Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income. Rieder noted that inflation remains low, and the newly-passed government budget will push interest rates higher because it creates so much new debt.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.2 percent, to 2,731.20. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 306.88 points, or 1.2 percent, to 25,200.37. The Nasdaq composite climbed 1.6 percent, to 7,256.43. — AP