Wall St. rises on trade optimism, pares gains after Trump Fed comments April Joyner

It was the second consecutive session the market took comfort in trade talks with China and the Dow zoomed up 120 points though late session comments from Trump criticizing the Fed and interest rates caused late selling that brought the index down to close up 89.  Why the President’s remarks would cause investor concerns is quite curious since the Fed did not actually do anything today; the speculation about rising rates was just that, nothing official even if it is widely accepted but still hardly news.  The likelihood of a hike when they all get together at Jackson Hole on Wednesday has been expected for some time.  But Q2 is now more or less done so, for this week anyway, all eyes are on Wyoming.  Volume was rather thin at 5.3 billion.  

mon  AUGUST 20, 2018 / 5:39 pm 

Wall St. rises on trade optimism, pares gains after Trump Fed comments

April Joyner

DJ:  25,758.69  +89.37        NAS:  7,821.01  +4.68        S&P:  2,857.05  +6.92       8/20

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street’s major indexes rose on Monday on optimism over trade talks between the United States and China, though they fell from session highs after President Donald Trump criticized the Federal Reserve’s raising interest rates.  U.S. stocks moved lower in the last 10 minutes of the session after Trump, in an interview with Reuters, said he was “not thrilled” with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and accused China and Europe of manipulating their respective currencies. 

But stocks retained most of their gains from earlier in the day, as talks between the United States and China planned for later this week provided a boost to the trade-sensitive industrial sector .SPLRCI. Industrial stocks rose 0.6 percent.

The S&P 500 energy .SPNY and materials .SPLRCM indexes both rose 0.7 percent as easing trade concerns also helped lift prices of oil and metal. [O/R] [MET/L]  “What’s working are things that would benefit from any relief on the trade side,” said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at SunTrust Advisory Services in Atlanta. “Industrials, materials and energy are all outperforming.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 89.37 points, or 0.35 percent, to 25,758.69, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 6.92 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,857.05 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 4.68 points, or 0.06 percent, to 7,821.01. 

This week, investors are turning their attention to central bank policies as the earnings season winds down.  The Federal Market Open Committee will release minutes from its August policy meeting on Wednesday. The minutes are expected to indicate the Fed’s confidence in U.S. economic growth and commitment to further interest rate increases.  Later in the week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other central bankers will meet in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. On their agenda is a discussion of the root causes of stubbornly low inflation, slow wage growth and weak productivity gains in the U.S. economy

Shares of Nike Inc (NKE.N) hit a record high of $82.42 after Piper Jaffray and Susquehanna raised their ratings on the stock. Nike shares ended the day up 3.0 percent at $82.18.

Intel Corp (INTC.O) shares dropped 1.3 percent after brokerage Cowen & Co said the chipmaker’s disclosure of new security bugs in some of its microprocessors may push cloud companies to seek other suppliers.  Estee Lauder (EL.N) rose 3.4 percent after topping quarterly profit and sales estimates as customers bought more of its high-margin Clinique and La Mer skin care products. 

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.36-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.55-to-1 ratio favored advancers.  The S&P 500 posted 50 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 114 new highs and 70 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 5.31 billion shares, compared to the 6.53 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.