Stock market news today August 21

Welcome to Finance Insider, Business Insider’s summary of
the top stories of the past 24 hours. Sign up here
to get
the best of Business Insider delivered direct to your
inbox.

Stocks hit all-time highs for the first time since
January

US stocks on Tuesday
rose to record highs for the first time since January 26.

Led by tech and utilities companies, the benchmark S&P 500
index surpassed its previous intra-day
record of 2,872.87. It traded up 0.6% to
2,872.93 at 1:10 p.m. ET.

The rally to new highs almost coincided with an even bigger
milestone for stocks: After the market closes on Wednesday, this
bull market will officially become the longest in history, as
measured by its ascent from the low it set during the recession
in 2009.

Stocks rebounded after a correction in February, a 10% drop from
its previous high that was only the fourth of this bull market.
The plunge took the Dow
Jones industrial average down by more than
1,000 points, the most ever, and wiped
out investment products that had profited
from the low volatility that prevailed in markets for most of
last year.

JPMorgan’s assault on Silicon Valley’s turf continues
with launch of cheap stock trading app

JPMorgan is
taking the plunge into the market for low-cost stock trading,
another sign the investing giant is going after the business of
younger, sexier startup firms like Robinhood.

The New York-based firm is launching its new investing app next
week, according to a CNBC report. The new app would offer
discounted stock trading, a portfolio-building feature, and
access to the investment bank’s research

Customers who download JPMorgan’s banking app can get 100 free
trades in the first year.

Across the brokerage industry, firms have been under
pressure to lower cost amid rising competition. Notably,
California brokerage Robinhood pioneered free stock trading,
forcing establishment firms like Fidelity and TDAmeritrade to
slash their pricing. Most recently, Fidelity announced no-fee
index funds.

Slack just raised a whopping $427 million to become a
$7.1 billion company

Slack,
the work chat app that’s become a poster child for Silicon Valley
startup success, is on something of a hot streak.

First, Slack
bought the intellectual property to Atlassian’s HipChat,
which had been one of its chief rivals. Then, no less
than Microsoft
recognized Slack as a major rival to the
Microsoft Office suite in an official regulatory filing.

Now, Slack can add one more to its win column, as it takes in a
whopping $427 million in an investment round led by Dragoneer
Investment Group and General Atlantic, with participation from T.
Rowe Price, Wellington Management, and others, including its
existing roster of investors.

Another Wall Street bank has dropped coverage of
Tesla

Morgan Stanley
has dropped research overage
of Tesla in what could be
another sign of Elon Musk’s electric-car company tapping banks
for financial services in its bid to go private.

Goldman Sachs previously
dropped coverage last week and said it was
“acting as a financial advisor in connection with a matter that
is fundamental to the reasonable analysis of the rating and price
target for the stock.”

In markets news