U.S. stocks tick up amid economic data
Xinhua, December 7, 2016 Adjust font size:
U.S. stocks extended gains Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average eclipsing previous day's closing record, as Wall Street meditated on a batch of economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.54 points, or 0.18 percent, to 19,251.78. The S&P 500 added 7.52 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,212.23. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 24.11 points, or 0.45 percent, to 5,333.00.
The U.S. goods and services deficit rose 6.4 billion U.S. dollars from September's revised reading to 42.6 billion U.S. dollars in October, generally in line with market consensus, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday.
In a separate report, the department said that U.S. new orders for manufactured goods in October, up four consecutive months, increased 12.5 billion dollars or 2.7 percent to 469.4 billion dollars. This followed a 0.6 percent September increase.
Meanwhile, U.S. nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 3.1-percent annual rate during the third quarter of 2016, missing market estimates of 3.3 percent, the Labor Department reported Tuesday.
Investors also kept a close eye on the U.S. central bank, which is scheduled to hold its policy meeting next week. The Federal Reserve is largely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points.
According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, market expectations for a December rate hike are more than 90 percent.
Overseas, European equities increased broadly Tuesday as concerns over political instability eased. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange gained 0.85 percent, French benchmark index CAC 40 jumped 1.26 percent.
In Asia, Chinese stocks closed lower Tuesday, the second day of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock link, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.16 percent at 3,199.65 points. Enditem