By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equities rose on Tuesday as strong corporate results and accelerating U.S. homebuilding lifted the S&P 500 past highs set before the coronavirus crushed world economies, in a stimulus-fueled rally that has also pushed the dollar to two-year lows.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite set records soon after the opening bell following strong sales growth as reported by major U.S. retailers including Walmart, Kohl's and Home Depot.
The benchmark S&P 500 index topped an all-time peak reached in February just before the onset of COVID-19. The tech-heavy Nasdaq hit a record high for the second consecutive day in a session where declining stocks outnumbered rising shares.
(Graphic: S&P 500's bull-to-bear, bear-to-bull journey in 6 months https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/jbyprqoodve/Pasted%20image%201597760476411.png)
"It's a reflection that the pandemic has limited longevity and the economic downtown will also have limited longevity," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York, who acknowledged many investors are skeptical about a rally that confirms a bull market.
"We feel in about a year or so most of the population will be immunized with a vaccine and the economy will begin to return to accelerated growth," Ghriskey said.
Historically low interest rates and very accommodative monetary and fiscal policy in the United States and abroad have aided the rally, said William Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Helena, Montana.
"The policy responses have been incredibly forceful and provided a necessary bridge through this voluntary economic shutdown as we deal with these conditions created by the pandemic," Northey said.
The near-doubling of online sales in the second quarter helped Walmart Inc trounce Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit and same-store sales.
The S&P slumped to a pandemic low on March 23 and has surged about 55% since then, making the bear market that started in late February the benchmark index's shortest in history.
The S&P 500 gained 0.23%, led by Amazon.com and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.73%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.24%.
In Europe, the broad FTSEurofirst 300 index closed down 0.52% at 1,424.85. MSCI's world equity index of equity markets in 49 nations rose 1.65 points or 0.29%, to 573.53.
(Graphic: S&P 500 PE revisits dot-com highs https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/ygdvzmrynpw/Pasted%20image%201597765664933.png)