US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq hold at record levels after Trump remarks


Reuters | New York | Updated: 13-11-2019 00:31 IST | Created: 13-11-2019 00:29 IST
US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq hold at record levels after Trump remarks
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The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes remained at record levels on Tuesday spurred by gains in trade-sensitive technology stocks, after President Donald Trump reiterated that the United States was close to signing a "phase one" trade deal with China.

Hopes of a resolution to the 16-month long tariff dispute and a strong corporate earnings season have powered Wall Street's gains so far this month. During his speech at the Economic club of New York, Trump said a trade deal could happen soon, but said that Washington would only accept a deal if it was good for the United States and its workers.

Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher, with the technology sector and healthcare shares providing the biggest boost to the benchmark index. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index also rose 0.82%.

"He was beating on China little bit, but not too much. He kind of left the door open, if you will, to actually getting a deal," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas. "The concern was that he might say something negative on China that would have an impact, but don't think he has been that hard on them."

About three quarters of the S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far have topped analysts' profit expectations, according to Refinitiv data. Earnings from big firms including Walmart Inc, Nvidia Corp and Cisco Systems Inc as well as a fresh set of economic data are due this week.

On the data front, retail sales in October is expected to rebound from a surprise contraction in the previous month, while industrial production is likely to decline by the same measure as the prior month. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will also give his comments on the domestic economic outlook this week.

At 1:17 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 36.82 points, or 0.13%, at 27,728.31, while the S&P 500 was up 10.32 points, or 0.33%, at 3,097.33. The Nasdaq Composite was up 39.94 points, or 0.47%, at 8,504.22. Among stocks, Walt Disney Co rose 1.4% as the company said demand for its much-anticipated streaming service, Disney+, was well above its expectations in a launch marred by complaints from users about glitches and connection problems.

Shares of Netflix Inc were down 0.7%. Rockwell Automation Inc jumped 12% as the factory automation equipment maker beat fourth-quarter profit expectations and forecast 2020 earnings above estimates.

CBS Corp dropped 3.1% after the media company missed quarterly revenue estimates. Shares of Viacom Inc, which is merging with CBS, were also down 3%. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.25-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.22-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 40 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 96 new highs and 75 new lows.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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