U.S. equities kicked off the week trading higher on Monday, unfazed by a key vote in Italy which led to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s resignation.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained about 100 points to hit a new record high, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains. The S&P 500 advanced 0.69 percent, with financials rising more than 1 percent to lead advancers. The Nasdaq composite outperformed, trading 0.9 percent higher.
Renzi said he would step down after being defeated in a referendum regarding his plan to overhaul the Italian constitution. Renzi said voters had shown a “clear” rejection of legislative reform measures and that he would meet with his cabinet on Monday and then hand in his resignation to the President Sergio Mattarella, taking full responsibility for the defeat.
The reforms would have made it so that the executive branch needs approval only from parliament’s lower house in order to pass laws. Legislation is a slow, arduous process in Italy, where there are a high number of lawmakers relative to the population, and where the two houses of parliament essentially have the same, duplicate powers.
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