US markets end higher on Wednesday

23 Dec 2021 Evaluate

The US markets settled in green on Wednesday, extending their previous session’s rally, easing worries about Omicron and US President Joe Biden's remarks that it is still possible to reach a deal with Senator Joe Manchin to push the $2 trillion Build Back Better bill through Congress. There are signs that the US and UK were not headed for widespread lockdowns as previously feared. The strength that emerged on markets partly have reflected a positive reaction to the latest US economic data, including a report from the Conference Board showing consumer confidence improved by much more than expected in the month of December. The report showed the consumer confidence index climbed to 115.8 in December from an upwardly revised 111.9 in November. Street had been expecting the consumer confidence index to inch up to 110.7 from the 109.5 originally reported for the previous month.

Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, noted concerns about both inflation and Covid-10 declined despite reports of continued price increases and the emergence of the Omicron variant. On the sectoral front, housing stocks saw substantial strength on the day, resulting in a 2 percent jump by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. The strength among housing starts came after the National Association of Realtors released a report showing existing home sales climbed to a ten-month high in November. NAR said existing home sales jumped 1.9 percent to an annual rate of 6.46 million in November after climbing by 0.8 percent to a rate of 6.34 million in October. Significant strength also emerged among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 261.19 points or 0.74 percent to 35,753.89, Nasdaq rose 180.81 points or 1.18 percent to 15,521.89 and S&P 500 was up by 47.33 points or 1.02 percent to 4,696.56.

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