All three U.S. major market indices doled out fresh record highs trading Wednesday, as both the U.S. and China have hinted progress towards a phase one trade agreement.
Here's how U.S. markets closed Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
U.S. President Donald Trump announced to White House reporters Tuesday afternoon that the trade talks were nearly done. According to Bloomberg, Trump stated that "We're in the final throes of a very important deal. It's going very well."
In U.S. Economic News, the economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% pace, whereas consensus economists expected the rate to remain unchanged. In a statement the Bureau said, "within the second estimate for the third quarter, upward revisions to private inventory investment, nonresidential fixed investment and personal consumption expenditures was partially offset by a downward revision to state and local government spending." In addition, initial jobless claims declined more than expected in November after two consecutive weeks of increases. New unemployment claims totaled a seasonally adjusted 213,00 for last week, which is below the 221,000 expected.
In Stock Sector News, all, but the lagging Industrials that saw a loss of -0.18%, posted gains in regular market trading on Wednesday. Those share increased were Consumer Discretionary +0.83%, Communication Services +0.63%, Information Technology +0.57%, Health Care +0.48%, Financials +0.38%, Real Estate +0.32%, Materials +0.20%, Consumer Staples +0.12%, and Utilities +0.09%.
Finally, in Commodity and Currency News, oil prices lost some of Tuesday's gains. West Texas Intermediate posted a loss in prices over -0.3% and Brent Cruse edged over to the positive side in later trading, gaining a price growth of just below +0.1%. Natural Gas prices however increased in current markets, with the Henry Hub Index increasing almost +1.5%. Gold is also on the rise, with the metal's ounce prices gaining over 0.15% during trading today. Lastly, the U.S. Dollar saw a slight bump today, with the DXY Index reading an increase of over +0.05%.
The U.S. Stock Market will be closed Thursday, November 28, in observance of Thanksgiving. The market will reopen for a shorter day on Friday.
