US markets end higher as retail sales uptick in February

18 Mar 2025 Evaluate

The US markets continued to regain ground during trading and ended in green on Monday after traders opted to buy stocks at relatively reduced levels following recent weakness, which saw the S&P 500 plunge into correction territory last Thursday. Market participants took shy of relief after Commerce Department's report on U.S. retail sales in the month of February showed that the retail sales rose by 0.2 percent in February after tumbling by a revised 1.2 percent in January. Although the retail sales growth missed street expectations for an increase of 0.7 percent, market seem relieved that the data wasn't even worse. However, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. Moreover, the Fed may also address President Trump's new tariffs amid concerns about the economic impact of the trade policies.

On sectoral front, oil producer stocks turned in a strong performance amid gaining crude prices with the NYSE Arca Oil Index climbing by 1.7 percent. Commercial real estate, semiconductor and natural gas stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 353.44 points or 0.85 percent to 41,841.63, Nasdaq increased 54.58 points or 0.3 percent to 17,808.66 and S&P 500 was up by 36.19 points or 0.65 percent to 5,675.12.


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