Thursday, 1 July 2021: US Equity markets mostly firmer, fresh record high for the S&P500 to close out the quarter

US equity markets mostly firmer to close out the month, quarter and half, with the S&P500 eking out its 34th record close of 2021 - Dow gained +211-points or +0.62% . Boeing Co gained +1.61% after Germany's defense ministry announced it would buy five of the planemaker's P-8A maritime control aircraft. Walmart Inc rose +2.71% after the world’s largest retailer announced that it will start selling private-label analog insulin this week at a deep discount to branded insulin vials and pens, as it seeks to drive growth at its healthcare business. The product, ReliOn NovoLog, is a rapid-acting analog insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes. It will require a prescription from a physician. More than two decades ago, Walmart launched a human insulin private label brand called ReliOn. The broader S&P500 edged +0.13% higher to log its fifth straight record closing high. Energy (up +1.31%) led seven of the eleven primary sectors higher. Real Estate (down -0.76%) was the worst performing primary sector overnight. ConocoPhillips hosted an Investor Day and detailed plans to add US$1B to its share buyback program for 2021, boosting its planned distributions to shareholders for the year to ~US$6B, or 7% of its current market capitalisation. The Nasdaq slipped -0.17%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 inched +0.07% higher. •Chinese ride-sharing company DiDi Global Inc debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) overnight, settling with a +1% gain (US$14.14 versus the initial public offer (IPO) price of US$14 per share) and market cap of US$67.8B. Didi raised US$4.4B in its IPO, with Uber Technologies (down -1.26%), Tencent Holdings Ltd (-1.10%) and SoftBank Corp (up +0.09%) the biggest shareholders.