US markets end mostly in green on Tuesday

28 Feb 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended the choppy trading session mostly in green on Tuesday amid uncertainty about the near-term outlook. Traders remained on the sidelines ahead of the release of some key economic data later this week, including a closely watched inflation reading. The Commerce Department's report on personal income and spending, which is scheduled to be released on Thursday, includes a reading on consumer price inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve. The inflation data could have a notable impact on the outlook for interest rates, as Fed officials have said they need greater confidence inflation is slowing before cutting rates.

A report released by the Commerce Department before the start of trading showed a substantial decrease by new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods saw a substantial decrease in the month of January. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders plunged by 6.1 percent in January after falling by a revised 0.3 percent in December. Street had expected durable goods orders to tumble by 4.5 percent compared to the unchanged reading that had been reported for the previous month. Excluding a steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders dipped by 0.3 percent in January after edging down by 0.1 percent in December. Ex-transportation orders were expected to rise by 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the Conference Board released a report showing an unexpected deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of February. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slid to 106.7 in February from a downwardly revised 110.9 in January. The decrease surprised participants, who had expected the consumer confidence index to inch up to 115.0 from the 114.8 originally reported for the previous month.

Nasdaq rose 59.05 points or 0.37 percent to 16,035.30 and S&P 500 was up by 8.65 points or 0.17 percent to 5,078.18, while Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 96.82 points or 0.25 percent to 38,972.41.

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