US markets settle higher on Thursday

17 May 2019 Evaluate

The US markets settled higher on Thursday amid investors weighed the latest developments on the trade front after President Donald Trump appeared to target Chinese telecommunications group Huawei Technologies Company with an emergency declaration against threats to US technology. Further, the strength on markets also reflected a positive reaction to earnings reports from Walmart (WMT), with the retail giant climbing by 1.4%. The advance by Walmart comes after the company reported fiscal first quarter earnings that exceeded street estimates on better than expected comparable store sales growth. Meanwhile, networking giant Cisco Systems (CSCO) also surged up by 6.7% after reporting fiscal third quarter results that exceeded street estimates on both the top and bottom lines. Besides, the markets also benefited from the release of a batch of upbeat economic data, including report from the Labor Department showing initial jobless claims dropped more than expected in the week ended May 11.

The report said initial jobless claims slid to 212,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 228,000. Street had expected jobless claims to dip to 220,000. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed a substantial increase in new residential construction in the month of April. The Commerce Department said housing starts surged up by 5.7% to an annual rate of 1.235 million in April after climbing by 1.7% to a revised rate of 1.168 million in March. Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, also rose by 0.6% to a rate of 1.296 million in April after edging down by 0.2% to a revised rate of 1.288 million in March. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve also released a report a significant acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in May. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity surged up to 16.6 in May after falling to 8.5 in April, with a positive reading indicating growth in regional manufacturing activity. Street had expected the index to inch up to 9.0.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 214.66 points or 0.84 percent to 25862.68, Nasdaq rose 75.90 points or 0.97 percent to 7898.05 and S&P 500 was up by 25.36 points or 0.89 percent to 2876.32.

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