Wall Street eases off record highs, closes day modestly higher
Major equity indexes in the U.S. started the day higher and surged to fresh record peaks before in the first trading hours of the session before going into a consolidation phase.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration's tax-reform and the never-ending geopolitical concerns, investors continue to price upbeat third-quarter earnings results. "The only fear in this market is the fear of missing out. But things can change quickly. There's stuff out there, like North Korea. You still have to be cautious," Dennis Dick, a proprietary trader at Bright Trading LLC in Las Vegas, told Reuters.
The retail giant Wal-Mart shares gained more than 4% on Tuesday after the company forecasted that its online sales would rise by about 40% in the next fiscal year. Among the gainers, American Airlines and United Continental came under the spotlight as they both added more than 5% on robust third-quarter forecasts. Moreover, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate rose nearly 3% on heightened expectations of an extension to the output-cut agreement, helping the S&P Energy Index (SPNY) end the day 0.25% higher.
On the other hand, after rising for three straight days, the S&P Information Technology Index (SPLRCT) closed the day modestly lower as three of the biggest tech companies, Alphabet, Intel, and Facebook, edged lower during the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 70.92 points, or 0.31%, to 22,831.99, the S&P 500 added 6 points, or 0.24%, to 2,550.74 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 7.09 points, or 0.11%, to 6,586.83.
Headlines from the NA session:
- United States: view in a nutshell - Nomura
- Markets whippy as the context of speech by the Catalonian regional president was digested - ANZ
- Market wrap: risk sentiment remained elevated - Westpac
- Debt ceiling deadline to come at a tricky time for the Fed - ING
- US: Small business optimism declines modestly in September - Wells Fargo
- NY Fed: Consumers’ outlook turns less optimistic
- US: Economic Optimism Index falls in every category in October - IBD/TIPP Poll
- IMF: Global growth projected to rise to 3.6% in 2017 and 3.7% in 2018