US markets end higher amid apparent de-escalation of US-Iran conflict

09 Jan 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday following remarks by President Trump, who responded to Tuesday night’s attacks by Iran by minimizing their importance, saying that no US casualties were sustained and that only minimal damage was done to US military facilities in Iraq. The President did say that he was imposing further economic sanctions on Iran, while stating categorically that ‘As long as I am President of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.’ The markets also benefited from the release of a report from payroll processor ADP showing much stronger than expected private sector job growth in the month of December. ADP said private sector employment surged up by 202,000 jobs in December after climbing by a substantially upwardly revised 124,000 jobs in November. Street had expected employment to increase by about 160,000 jobs compared to the addition of 67,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The S&P set a new intraday record Wednesday, while the Nasdaq set both record intraday high and close.

Besides, with a drop in revolving credit partly offsetting an increase in non-revolving credit, the Federal Reserve released a report showing US consumer credit rose by less than expected in the month of November. The Fed said consumer credit climbed by $12.5 billion in November after jumping by $18.9 billion in October. Street had expected consumer credit to increase by about $15.0 billion. Non-revolving credit, such as student loans and car loans, surged up $14.9 billion in November following an $11.1 billion increase in October. Meanwhile, the report said revolving credit, which largely reflects credit card debt, fell by $2.4 billion in November after climbing by $7.9 billion in the previous month. Compared to the same month a year ago, total consumer credit in November was up by 3.6 percent, as non-revolving credit spiked by 5.8 percent but revolving credit slumped by 2.7 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 161.41 points or 0.56 percent to 28745.09, Nasdaq gained 60.66 points or 0.67 percent to 9129.24 and S&P 500 was up by 15.87 points or 0.49 percent to 3253.05.

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