US stocks reach new records; Obama hits broadband firms

A man walks to work on Wall Street in New York in this Oct. 8, 2014, photo. US stock markets soared to fresh records Monday, Nov. 10, but Internet broadband carriers were hit hard by President Barack Obama’s call for tough net neutrality rules. AP

NEW YORK–US stock markets soared to fresh records Monday but Internet broadband carriers were hit hard by President Barack Obama’s call for tough net neutrality rules.

For the fourth straight session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke its all-time closing record, gaining 39.81 points (0.23 percent) at 17,613.74.

The S&P 500 added 6.34 (0.31 percent) at 2,038.26, its fourth record close in a row, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 19.08 (0.41 percent) to 4,651.62.

Obama’s statement against allowing large Internet service providers to discriminate between customers on Internet access and speeds was seen as a blow to an industry expecting to earn more by offering better broadband service and performance to preferred customers.

Comcast fell 4.0 percent, Time Warner Cable lost 4.9 percent, Charter Communications lost 6.2 percent, and Verizon fell 0.3 percent.

Nike led the Dow blue chips with a 1.3 percent gain, while Intel continued its slide with another 1.0 percent loss.

Among tech stocks, Amazon gained 1.8 percent while Chinese rival Alibaba soared 4.0 percent.

Merck shares dropped 0.9 percent after the failure of tests for an accelerated hepatitis C treatment.

Shares of rival pharmaceutical maker Gilead, whose hepatitis C treatment is selling strong despite a $90,000-plus cost, added 0.5 percent.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.36 percent from 2.31 percent Friday, while the 30-year pushed to 3.09 percent from 3.05 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

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