While you were sleeping: Dow hits record high

While you were sleeping: Dow hits record high

Dec. 6 (BusinessDesk) - Wall Street rose, with the Dow climbing to a fresh record, as did oil prices as investors chose to focus on the prospect of an improving US economy and shook off the results of an Italian referendum.

In 12.45pm trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.9 percent. In 12.31pm trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.6 percent.

"Over the last few months, we had this increasingly pessimistic outlook on the stock market and the economy," Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, told Reuters.

US President-elect Donald "Trump has been sort of a wake-up call for some complacent investors to take a look and see that inflation was moving higher and the economy is improving," Schutte noted.

The Dow advanced as gains in shares of Nike and those of Goldman Sachs, recently up 3 percent and 2.1 percent respectively, outweighed declines in shares of UnitedHealth and those of Merck, down 2.1 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.

HSBC initiated coverage of Goldman Sachs with a “buy” rating and a US$250 price target, according to media reports.

The Dow touched a record high 19,274.85.

US Federal Reserve officials flagged higher interest rates.

“Assuming the economy stays on this trajectory, I would favour making monetary policy somewhat less accommodative over time by gradually pushing up the level of short-term interest rates,” New York Fed President William Dudley said in prepared remarks.

The Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to announce a rate hike at the end of its two-day meeting on December 14.

"We are on the cusp of a period of rising interest rates," Chicago Fed President Charles Evans Evans told reporters after a speech, according to Reuters.

A report by the Institute for Supply Management showed its non-manufacturing index rose to a higher-than-expected 57.2 in November, up from 54.8 in October.

In the latest corporate deals, shares of FairPoint Communications soared, trading 11.9 percent higher as of 1.05pm in New York, after Consolidated Communications said it agreed to buy the company for about US$1.5 billion, including debt. Shares of Consolidated traded 4.1 percent lower.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the session with a 0.6 percent increase from the previous close. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.2 percent, France’s CAC 40 Index gained 1 percent, and Germany’s DAX Index rallied 1.6 percent.

Investors shrugged off the results of Italy’s referendum, which prompted Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to resign.

“A ‘no’ vote was already priced in, and the bottom line is this wasn’t a major risk event for market—it wasn’t a vote on EU membership,” Sylvain Loganadin, a market analyst at FXCM in Paris, told Bloomberg. “Now that this is behind us, people are buying the dip, betting on a catch-up rally in Europe.”

The euro rose against the US dollar, recovering from earlier losses.

Oil prices gained, touching the highest level since July 2015. Brent crude rose as high as US$55.33 a barrel, while US crude West Texas Intermediate gained as high as US$52.42 a barrel.

"OPEC sentiment continues to support oil markets,” Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam, told Reuters. “Speculative short positions are still at elevated levels and as more traders unwind these positions they could trigger more support for oil prices.”

(BusinessDesk)

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