US markets settle higher on Monday

05 Feb 2019 Evaluate

The US markets settled higher on Monday, with Nasdaq ending higher over one percent, as investors looked ahead to another week of high-profile earnings and developments in US-China trade talks. Stocks continue to benefit from a dovish Federal Reserve after the central bank last week signaled rate increases were on hold until further notice. US-China trade talks will remain in focus as a March 1 deadline to avoid an increase on tariffs on Chinese imports looms. Upbeat comments by US and Chinese have been credited with supporting stocks. Besides, markets continued to benefit from recent upward momentum as well as the positive sentiment generated by last Friday’s monthly employment report showing much stronger than expected job growth in the month of January. Stock specific development, shares of pizza chain Papa John’s International Inc. PZZA surged 9% after a $200 million investment by activist investment firm Starboard Value LP that will also see Starboard Chief Executive Jeffrey Smith become chairman of the chain.

On the economic front, reflecting a steep drop in orders for non-durable goods, the Commerce Department released a report showing new orders for US manufactured goods unexpectedly decreased in the month of November. The Commerce Department said factory orders fell by 0.6 percent in November after jumping by 2.1 percent in October. The pullback surprised participants, who had expected orders to edge up by 0.2 percent. The unexpected drop in factory orders came as orders for non-durable goods slumped by 1.9 percent in November after inching up by 0.1 percent in the previous month. Meanwhile, the report said durable goods orders climbed by 0.7 percent in November after plummeting by 4.3 percent in October. Orders for transportation equipment led the rebound, surging up by 3.0 percent in November after plunging by 12.4 percent in October.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 175.48 points or 0.70 percent to 25239.37, S&P 500 gained 18.34 points or 0.68 percent to 2724.87 and Nasdaq was up by 83.67 points or 1.15 percent to 7347.54.

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