Wall Street edges up on consumer, housing boost

Record ID: 162446

  • Title: Wall Street edges up on consumer, housing boost
  • Date: 27th December 2016
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 27, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BARCLAYS MANAGING DIRECTOR MICHAEL GAPEN, SAYING: "Given what has been discussed about bringing the corporate tax rate down, getting rid of some of the deductions, I think you look at corporate earnings and you can get a re-rating on equities just from that and the moves that we have seen would be consistent with that. So there is upside in that if you did get growth, you did get further earnings growth but just on corporate tax reform alone I think Dow $20k would be justifiable."
  • Embargoed: 11th January 2017 21:35
  • Keywords: Dow. 20k traders markets stocks NYSE Boeing Trump Iran economy consumer
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Economic Events,Equities Markets
  • Reuters ID: LVA0025ENSD59
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:U.S. stocks rose slightly on Tuesday, supported by upbeat consumer and housing data, with gains in technology shares lifting the Nasdaq Composite to a record close.
    At just over four billion shares traded, it was one of the lowest-volume sessions of 2016. Volume across markets is expected to continue to be weak through the end of the year.
    Tuesday data showed American consumers' confidence shot to its highest in more than 15 years in December as they saw more strength ahead in business conditions, stock prices and the job market, while house prices continued their steady recovery in October.
    U.S. equities have been riding a post-presidential election rally, feeding on optimism that Donald Trump's plans for deregulation and infrastructure spending could bolster the economy.
    Barclay's Michael Gapen says that could justify a continued rise in the financial markets. "Given what has been discussed about bringing the corporate tax rate down, getting rid of some of the deductions, I think you look at corporate earnings and you can get a re-rating on equities just from that and the moves that we have seen would be consistent with that." said Gapen. "So there is upside in that if you did get growth, you did get further earnings growth but just on corporate tax reform alone I think Dow $20k would be justifiable."
    With the market priced for positive outcomes in various scenarios, some see the end-year rally as an opportunity to cash-in gains.
    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 11.23 points, or 0.06 percent, to 19,945.04, the S&P 500 gained 5.09 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,268.88 and the Nasdaq Composite added 24.75 points, or 0.45 percent, to 5,487.44.
    About 4.13 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the 7.27 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. Volume this week last year averaged 5 billion stocks daily.
    The largest percentage gainer on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 was Nvidia Corp., which rose 6.9 percent and boosted the chipmakers.
    Amazon rose 1.4 percent to $771.40. The online retailer said it shipped over 1 billion items to Prime members during the holiday season.
    Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.61-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.54-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
    The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 174 new highs and 25 new lows.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register