Wall Street hits fresh record on trade optimism, Tesla soars
US stock indexes hit fresh record highs on Monday on optimism about the imminent signing of a preliminary US-China trade deal as well as the start of the fourth-quarter corporate earnings season.
Apple, Facebook, Netflix , Microsoft and Amazon.com, which have powered the longest bull run in US equities, were the top boosts to the main indexes.
Tesla jumped 8.1 per cent after a report said China would not make significant cuts to subsidies for new energy vehicles this year, while Oppenheimer boosted its price target on the stock.
Google-owner Alphabet rose 0.6 per cent and was set to cross $US1 trillion ($1.44 trillion) in market capitalisation to join Apple and Microsoft.
An easing of Middle East tensions and the Phase 1 US-China trade agreement, which is expected to be signed in Washington on Wednesday, have encouraged riskier bets over the last week.
Adding to the positive mood, Bloomberg cited sources that the Trump administration planned to lift its designation of China as a currency manipulator.
Investors are awaiting earnings from big banks JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo , which kick off the fourth-quarter reporting season from Tuesday.
“It’s one of those days when we’re setting up for that shift from macro to micro,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.
“My guess is that it (bank earnings) is going to be more good news than bad news and a lot of that is driven by the kick up in demand across the board whether it’s demand from consumers or corporates.”
Analysts expect profits at S&P 500 companies to drop 0.6 per cent for a second consecutive quarter, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
At 12:33 pm New York time (4:33am in Sydney), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 80.44 points, or 0.28 per cent, at 28,904.21, the S&P 500 was up 18.05 points, or 0.55 per cent, at 3,283.40 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 73.81 points, or 0.80 per cent, at 9,252.67.
Aerospace companies Hexcel and Woodward rose 7.8 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively, after the two Boeing suppliers said they would combine in an all-stock merger valued at $US6.43 billion.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 2.17-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.61-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 52 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 120 new highs and 22 new lows.
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Source: Thanks smh.com