GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks hit record

Equity gains on Wall Street were modest, with financials the best-performing S&P sector of the session.

NEW YORK: A gauge of global stocks closed at a record on Monday and U.S. Treasury yields held above five-month lows touched last week as investors looked for signs on whether the Delta variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus could hamper economic growth.

Last week, a bond market rally pushed the yield of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note to a five-month low of 1.25% as investors worried that climbing cases of the variant could slow the economic recovery. The yield had risen to as high as 1.78% in March as rising vaccination rates fed expectations for growth.