NEW YORK: US stocks were up in early morning trading, advancing further into record territory as Washington pressed ahead with talks to rewrite the North American trade pact.
The slender advances briefly pushed the broad-based S&P 500 over the 2,900 mark for the first time and followed Monday’s record closes after Washington and Mexico City struck a bilateral bargain on free trade — putting pressure on Canada to join the pact.
About an hour into the day’s trading session, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 percent at 26,103.71.
The S&P rose less than a tenth of a point at 2,899.40, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.2 percent at 8,030.72.
Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com said market participants were cheered by hopes the US Congress would ultimately bless the deal the United States, Canada and Mexico appeared to be working towards.
“For now, market participants seem to be content knowing something got done at least with Mexico,” he said.
Investors were also cheered by a survey showing consumer confidence was near an 18-year high, pointing to stronger consumer spending.
There was movement among retailers on Tuesday, with shoe retailer DSW soaring 23.9 percent after blowing past analyst expectations with earnings of 63 cents per share.
Cosmetics maker Estee Lauder also rose 2.2 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded its stock.
But best Buy fell 6.9 percent despite better-than-expected earnings.
Source: Brecorder
