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1st LD Writethru: Dow extends record run on upbeat data

Xinhua, May 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks ended narrowly mixed on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average eclipsing previous day's closing record, as April's housing data came out well above market consensus.

The Dow inched up 13.51 points, or 0.07 percent, to 18,312.39. The S&P 500 edged down 1.37 points, or 0.06 percent, to 2,127.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 8.40 points, or 0.17 percent, to 5, 070.03.

U.S. privately-owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.135 million, the highest level since November 2007, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday. This is 20.2 percent above the revised March estimate and is 9.2 percent above the April 2014 rate.

"After a slew of weak Q2 data thus far, and after months of disappointing housing market data, April housing starts and permits suggest that the housing market is finally responding to higher incomes and more jobs," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial, in a note.

Investor sentiment was also buoyed by the comments from a policymaker of the European Central Bank (ECB). ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said that the central bank would slightly increase purchases under its Quantitative Easing (QE) program before an expected period of low liquidity in the summer, according to Reuters.

European equities ended sharply higher after the comments, with German benchmark DAX index at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange surging 2.23 percent.

In Asia, Chinese Shanghai Composite Index soared 3.13 percent as investor enthusiasm was ignited after China's State Council unveiled a "Made in China 2025" national plan to promote more sophisticated manufacturing over the next 10 years on Tuesday.

Oil prices continued to decline Tuesday as the stronger U.S. dollar weighed on the crude market, with both the U.S. oil and Brent crude shedding more than 3 percent.

Dragged by tumbling oil prices, energy sector, the biggest laggard among the S&P 500's 10 sectors, fell 1.23 percent on Tuesday, pulling the broader index into negative territory.

On corporate news, Wal-Mart earned an adjusted 1.03 U.S. dollars per share for the first quarter of 2015, missing estimates, with revenue also below expectations. Shares of the retail giant dropped 4.37 percent to 76.43 dollars apiece Tuesday.

U.S. stocks rallied on Monday with both the Dow and the S&P 500 refreshing record highs, as investors bet that the Federal Reserve would delay interest rate increases due to recent weak economic data. Endite