Overnight, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite each notched all-time highs after finishing with gains of 0.1 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively. The Dow Jones gave up an early gain and closed 0.1 per cent lower.
The indexes have been gaining ground steadily over the last several months and that has helped push the benchmark S&P 500 index to 35 records so far this year.
“The current market is positive and steady to a nearly unprecedented degree,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide. “It’s extremely rare to see these types of consistent gains with almost no volatility.”
Gains in tech stocks, including several chipmakers, tempered declines in communication services, energy and other sectors of the S&P 500. Nvidia rose 1.9 per cent, Broadcom added 2.5 per cent and Advanced Micro Devices finished with a 3.9 per cent gain.
Troubled airplane maker Boeing rose 0.5 per cent after agreeing to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two crashes of 737 Max jetliners that killed 346 people.
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Entertainment giant Paramount Global slid 5.3 per cent for the biggest decline among S&P 500 stocks after it agreed to merge with Skydance.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell addresses Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. The central bank has kept its benchmark interest rate at its highest level in more than two decades in an effort to tame inflation.
Treasury yields were relatively stable in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.27 per cent from 4.28 per cent late Friday.
With AP