US markets ended the session mostly in green on Friday on the back of optimism about tax reform following comments from President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn. He said Trump is planning to launch a public campaign to highlight the need for tax reform next week. Meanwhile, traders also reacted positive to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s remarks at the Fed’s economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Yellen refrained from discussing monetary policy in her prepared remarks, focusing on the topic of financial stability a decade after the onset of the financial crisis. Yellen said core reforms enacted after the 2008 financial crisis have boosted financial resilience without limiting credit or growth.
On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing a sharp pullback in durable goods orders in the month of July. The durable goods orders plunged by 6.8 percent in July after surging up by 6.4 percent in June. The street had expected durable goods orders to slump by 6.0 percent. Excluding a steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders increased by 0.5 percent in July after inching up by 0.1 in June. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to rise by 0.4 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 30.27 points or 0.14 percent to 21,813.67 and the S&P 500 was up by 4.08 points or 0.17 percent to 2,443.05, while the Nasdaq was down by 5.68 points or 0.09 percent to 6,265.64.