Home Depot leads Dow gainers following positive earnings
U.S. stocks climbed on Tuesday, 19 August 2014 at Wall Street after a better-than-expected jump in July housing starts and upbeat earnings reports. The stock market continued its strong start to the week with a broad-based rally that sent the stocks higher.
The Dow Industrials rose 80.85 points, or 0.5%, to end at 16,919.59. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 19.20 points, or 0.4%, to finish at 4,527.51. The S&P 500 advanced 9.86 points, or 0.5%, to close at 1,981.60.
Nine of ten sectors registered gains led by consumer discretionary, technology and energy sectors.
Equities received an opening boost from a pair of economic data points that crossed the wires this morning. An in-line CPI report suggested inflationary pressures remain contained, while a better than expected Housing Starts report underpinned homebuilders and the discretionary sector.
Apple achieved an all-time split-adjusted closing high, while Home Depot was the biggest gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the wake of quarterly results that topped forecasts.
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Some upbeat U.S. housing data helped to stoke better investor risk appetite to fuel the stock market bulls. The other bearish factor was the U.S. dollar index rallying to an 11-month high. Losses were limited, however, as smoldering geopolitical hotspots are still somewhat supportive for safe-haven gold.
Traders and investors are awaiting this week's annual Kansas City Federal Reserve meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that begins on Thursday. The confab of world central bankers has in the past yielded important U.S. monetary policy speeches and clues to the direction of monetary policy. Fed Chair Janet Yellen and ECB President Mario Draghi are scheduled to speak in Jackson Hole on Friday. Before the Jackson Hole event comes the Federal Reserve's FOMC minutes on Wednesday afternoon, which as usual will be closely scrutinized.
The Commerce Department on Tuesday said construction on U.S. new homes rose 15.7% in July to an annual rate of 1.09 million, well above forecasts, and the June drop in new construction was revised to a much smaller decline. In other economic news, the Labor Department said U.S. consumer prices rose 0.1% in July, matching forecasts and signaling inflation isn't flaring up.
Bullion prices ended lower on Tuesday, 19 August 2014 at Comex. Gold prices retreated again as investors pushed the Nasdaq Composite to 14-year highs ahead of Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen's speech at the end of the week. Gold for December delivery fell $2.60 to settle at $1,296.70 an ounce. September silver shed 20 cents to $19.41 an ounce.
Crude-oil futures continued to drop on Tuesday, 19 August 2014 at Nymex with the U.S. benchmark closing below $95 a barrel for the first time since January as fading geopolitical fears leave traders to focus on a supply glut. Later Tuesday, markets will be tracking the weekly U.S. oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September dropped $1.93, or 2%, to close at $.94.48 a barrel.
Participation was well below average with fewer than 550 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.
Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be released at 7:00 ET, while the minutes from the latest FOMC policy meeting will cross the wires at 14:00 ET.
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