After dropping 60 points right out the gate
and continuing to drop almost a hundred throughout the session, there was a
last minute reprieve which recouped the losses and the Dow was actually up 11
points at close. All of this is evidence
that investors remain hesitant over the uncertainties in Trump’s economic
policies and therefore keep the markets selling and buying like crazy hour by
hour. At this time, optimism is winning out over results and that will be fine as long as results are ultimately
forthcoming. And once again, closing up
put the Dow at still one more consecutive record breaking close, now its 11th,
a record not seen since 1987. At 6.7
billion, volume was very close to recent averages.
Wall Street edges higher to give Dow 11th straight record
DJ: 20,821.76 +11.44 NAS: 5,845.31
+9.80 S&P: 2,367.34 +3.53 2/24
(Reuters) Wall Street edged higher on Friday, with the
Dow extending its streak of record-setting gains to 11 days, as increases in
utilities and other safety plays outweighed declines in financials. Major Wall Street indexes have rallied to
record levels since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, boosted by
pledges of tax reforms, reduced regulations and increased infrastructure
spending.
Equities were in negative territory for
a majority of the trading session, however, as investors grew hesitant after recent
comments from the Trump administration indicated its pro-growth policies may have a longer route to
implementation.
As details remain scarce on Trump's
plans,
including one announced on Thursday to bring millions of jobs back to the
United States, markets
have kept to tight daily trading ranges. The benchmark S&P 500 index
has not registered a move of at least 1 percent in either direction since Dec.
7.
Analysts
have become more leery of stocks as they have run up without concrete details
and are becoming more expensive. The forward price-to-earnings ratio of the
S&P 500 is 17.8.
"Certainly
the sentiment is improving
much faster than the actual activity so we’ve seen valuations probably
get a little bit ahead of themselves," said Brant Houston, managing
director at Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management in Denver.
"Ultimately
we need to see those
fundamental changes come through to validate that improved sentiment."
U.S.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday any policy steps would
probably have only a limited impact this year. Investors will look for clarity
on Trump's plan on Tuesday when he addresses a joint session of Congress.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 11.44 points,
or 0.05 percent, to end at 20,821.76, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 3.53
points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,367.34 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 9.80
points, or 0.17 percent, to 5,845.31.
Utilities
.SPLRCU, up 1.4 percent were the best performing of the 11 major S&P
sectors, lifted by a 3.1 gain in Public Service Enterprise Group (PEG.N) after its
quarterly results.
Financials
.SPSY, the best performing S&P sector since the election, weighed on both
the Dow and S&P 500 with a decline of 0.75 percent as Treasury yields
weakened. Also dragging the group lower was a 1.5 percent decline in Goldman
Sachs (GS.N) to $247.35 after
Berenberg cut its rating on the stock to "sell."
The Dow extended its run of
record-setting gains to 11, the longest streak since 1987.
Shares
of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE.N) fell 6.9 percent
to $22.96 after the company cut its full-year profit forecast.
J.C.
Penney (JCP.N) fell 5.8 percent
to $6.46 after the department store operator reported a bigger-than-expected
drop in same-store sales for the holiday quarter.
Advancing
issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.11-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq,
a 1.16-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The
S&P 500 posted 41 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite
recorded 88 new highs and 54 new lows.
About
6.75 billion shares
changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 6.8 billion daily
average over the last 20 sessions.
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