Boeing and United Technologies helped power the rebound
US stcoks ended with moderate gains on Tuesday, 29 August 2017. U.S. stock benchmarks on Tuesday staged a recovery from heavy selling earlier in the session that came after a North Korean missile test over Japanese airspace rattled investors and sent Wall Street trawling for assets perceived as safe.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 56.97 points, or 0.3%, to close at 21,865.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 18.87 points, or 0.3%, to close at 6,301.89. The S&P 500 index ticked 2.06 points, or 0.1%, higher to 2,446.30. The broad-market gauge had been down by about 16 points, or 0.7%, at its low.
Blue chips had been off by as much as 135 points, or 0.6%, at its session low. A rise by shares of Boeing and United Technologies helped power the rebound.
Meanwhile, U.S. equity futures sold off late Monday, after North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan, seen as another direct provocation that could destabilize the region, but staged a turnaround in late-afternoon trade. North Korea rattled equity markets around the globe on Tuesday morning after firing a missile over the Japanese island of Hokkaido--marking the first time since 2009 that Pyongyang has fired over Japan's main islands. Wall Street opened solidly lower, but quickly began retracing its opening loss, and moved higher. The rally was led by the industrial sector which benefited from strength in defense names following the North Korean launch.
At Wall Street on Tuesday, the consumer confidence reading for August rose to 122.9 from the prior month's revised reading of 120.0 (from 121.1). The consensus expected the survey to hit 120.3. The key takeaway from the report is that consumer confidence remained high as the current labor market assessment overshadowed a lot of the political drama that has called into question the ability to implement a tax reform plan this year.
Separately, the June Case-Shiller 20-city Index hit 5.7%, which is in line with the consensus. The prior month's reading was left unrevised at 5.7%.
Bullion prices ended in a mixed note on Tuesday, 29 AUgust 2017 at Comex. Gold prices extended their climb into a third session in a row settling at the highest level in almost a year, as a North Korean missile launch over Japan's airspace rekindled geopolitical tensions in the region and sparked a flight to haven assets. Silver dropped.
Gold for December delivery rose $3.60, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,318.90 an ounce. It marked its highest settlement value since Sept. 29 of last year, but finished off the day's high of $1,331.90, paring gains in the wake of upbeat economic data. U.S. consumer confidence strengthened in August to the second highest level since late 2000. December silver turned lower, losing 1.3 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $17.516 an ounce.
U.S. oil prices settled at their lowest level in more than a month on Tuesday, 29 August 2017 at Nymex as refinery outages in the wake of Hurricane Harvey continued to spark fears of diminished demand for U.S. oil. But prices for West Texas Intermediate crude finished off the session's worst levels as traders bet that preparations for the storm resulted in a drawdown of oil supplies.
October WTI crude, the U.S. benchmark, fell 13 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $46.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices lost 2.7% on Monday. On the ICE Futures Europe exchange, October Brent oil rose 11 cents, or 0.2%, at $52 a barrel. The global benchmark wasn't hit as hard by the Harvey carnage on Monday, because it is expected that the U.S. will demand more oil from Europe as its own production and refining get back up to speed. The spread between WTI and Brent is now above $5 for the first time in two years.
The moves for oil came as flooding and rain in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey continued to buffet Texas with once-in-a-generation flooding. The storm is already estimated to have reduced refining capacity in the area by more than 2 million barrels a day, boosting gasoline prices to their highest in more than two years, but adding pressure on U.S. crude.
U.S. Treasuries moved higher across the curve in response to the North Korean missile test, but finished a ways off from their best marks of the day. The benchmark 10-yr yield dropped two basis points to 2.14%, but traded as low as 2.09% in the early morning. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index managed to eke out a small victory, coming back from a loss of around 0.6%.
On Wednesday, investors will receive several economic reports, including the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index at 7:00 ET, the ADP Employment Change Report for August (consensus 180K) at 8:15 ET, and the second estimate of second quarter GDP (consensus 2.7%) at 8:30 ET.
Powered by Capital Market - Live News
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
