US markets end higher on Wednesday

16 May 2019 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday on reports that President Donald Trump plans to delay imposing steep tariffs on auto imports. Reports indicated Trump plans to delay imposing the auto tariffs by up to six months in order to allow negotiations to continue. Trump faces a May 18 deadline to decide whether to slap a tariff of as much as 25% on imported cars and parts due to national security concerns. Besides, some support also came in as Homebuilder confidence has improved by much more than anticipated in the month of May, according to a report released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index climbed to 66 in May from 63 in April, while Street had expected the index to inch up to 64. Following declines in late 2018 due to higher interest rates and concerns over slower growth, the index has reached its highest level since October of 2018.

However, industrial production in the US unexpectedly showed a notable decrease in the month of April, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve. The Fed said industrial production fell by 0.5% in April following a revised 0.2% uptick in March. Street had expected production to come in unchanged compared to the 0.1% dip originally reported for the previous month. The unexpected drop in production partly reflected a sharp pullback in utilities output, which plunged by 3.5% in April after jumping by 2.2% in March. Manufacturing output also slumped by 0.5% in April after coming in unchanged in the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 115.97 points or 0.45 percent to 25648.02, Nasdaq rose 87.65 points or 1.13 percent to 7822.15 and S&P 500 was up by 16.55 points or 0.58 percent to 2850.96.

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