US stocks advanced amid Fed chairman race, Syria chemical weapon deal

U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to a five-week high and within 1% of a record, after Lawrence Summers withdrew his bid to be Federal Reserve chairman and tensions over dealing with Syria’s chemical weapons eased.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.6% to 1,697.60 at 4 p.m. in New York, after earlier rising as much as 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 118.72 points, or 0.8%, to 15,494.78. About 5.7 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, 4.5% below the three-month average.

“I don’t think the market knew what kind of a Fed chairman Summers would be, and having him out of the running makes things look a lot more certain,” Colleen Supran, a principal of Bingham, Osborn & Scarborough in San Francisco, which manages $2.7 billion, said in a phone interview for Bloomberg. “This tapering announcement that’s expected for Wednesday seems to be accepted by the markets. It’s probably going to be modest.”

Nine of 10 main groups in the S&P 500 soared, with industrial companies, materials producers and financial firms rising at least 1.1%. About 19% of companies in the S&P 500 reached a new 52-week high today, the most since Aug. 1.

In corporate world, Boeing added 3.9% to a record $115.67 for the biggest rise in the Dow. Sterne Agee analyst Peter Arment said the aerospace company is a “must-own stock” among large industrial companies and raised his price target to $164 from $120.

Delta Air Lines Inc. jumped 3% to $23.15 to pace gains in an gauge of air carriers. The Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index rose 1.9% to the highest level since Aug. 2. The measure has rallied 55% this year.

Apple Inc. fell 3.2% to $450.12 for the biggest drop in the S&P 500. The stock has fallen 11% since the day before the world’s most valuable technology company introduced a new, lower-cost version of the iPhone.

Whole Foods Market Inc. advanced 1.1% to a record $57.71. The shares have advanced 12 straight days, the longest winning streak in the stock’s history. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. also extended its record rally to 12 days, rising 1.5% to $39.79. The world’s second-largest cruise-line operator put under pressure from its largest shareholder, doubled its quarterly dividend on Sept. 11.