Tencent Securities News Beijing time on the evening of July 27th news, U. S. stocks rose slightly on Thursday, the three major stock indexes hit another record high, investors are digesting a series of corporate earnings and economic data, as well as the policy statement released by the Federal Reserve in the early hours of this morning.
The Dow opened up 0.18% at 21750.83. The S & P 500 opened up 0.19% at 2482.42. The Nasdaq opened up 0.56% at 6458.74 points.
The US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) issued a monetary policy statement at 2am Beijing time on Thursday, deciding to keep the benchmark interest rate in the target range of 1% to 1.25%, in line with widespread market expectations, but said it would start a "shrinking table" (that is, reducing the balance sheet) as soon as possible.
All three benchmark US stock indexes hit record highs on Wednesday as they were supported by well-performing corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 0.5% to close at 21711.01, the S & P rose 0.7 points to close at 2477.83, and the NASDAQComprehensive indexIt rose 0.2% to close at 6422.75.
Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at Oanda, a global provider of foreign exchange trading services, said in an email comment that Facebook Inc's strong earnings performance is likely to push technology stocks higher in Thursday's trading. "given the upward trend of technology stocks so far this year, especially large technology stocks, this sector has to live up to its high valuations, and the level of growth we have seen is doing that."
Mr Ellem believes investors are looking for other incentives to fill the gap at a time when US President Donald Trump is unable to deliver on his promises to cut taxes and raise spending.
"the performance of this earnings season has not been disappointing, which is why the [US] stock market has not suffered the same correction as other stock markets so far this year." He said.
Sean Sean Darby, chief global equity strategist at Jefferies, the investment bank, and his team said they would raise the target for the S & P to 2500 from 2325, noting that as long as nominal GDP growth was "higher than Treasury yields, then investors should hold US stocks".
For individual stocks:
Technology stocks generally rose before the market, with Facebook Inc shares up 6.5 per cent. Apple Inc's share price rose 0.5%. Amazon.Com Inc's shares rose 1.45 per cent. Netflix shares rose 0.49 per cent. Shares of Alphabet Inc-CL C's parent company, Alphabet, rose 0.26%.
Facebook Inc's share price rose sharply before trading as the company's quarterly profit beat expectations. If the social networking giant's share price rises strongly in regular trading on Thursday, its market capitalization could approach the $500 billion mark.
Twitter fell about 10 per cent in pre-market trading as the company reported flat user growth, causing the stock to flatten its pre-earnings gains.
Today, Baidu, Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement. Under the agreement, Chinese consumers will be able to shop and pay for millions of PayPal Holdings Inc international merchants abroad through Baidu, Inc. Wallet in China.
Deutsche Bank fell 2.5 per cent after the company reported an unexpected surge in second-quarter profits but lower-than-expected revenue.
Budweiser InBev rose 5.3% after the beer giant reported a sharp increase in quarterly profits.
PayPal, the mobile payments group, rose 2.8% after it reported better-than-expected profits and raised its performance outlook.
At the same time, shares of international companies listed in the United States are also actively traded. AstraZeneca PLC fell 16% before the session after the pharmaceutical giant said the results of phase III clinical trials of its lung cancer drug Mystic were negative. Rival Bristol-Myers Bristol-Myers Squibb Co also fell 6% before trading after the company reported results.
Diageo PLC, the world's largest spirits producer, rose 7.5 per cent in pre-market trading after raising its profit margin growth target.
In addition, Amazon.Com Inc, Intel Corp, Starbucks Corp and other companies will release financial reports after trading.
In terms of economic data:
The number of first-time jobless claims in the United States for the week of July 22nd is 244000, which is expected to be 240000, with the previous value revised from 233000 to 234000. The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the United States for the week of July 15th is 1.964 million, which is expected to be 1.96 million, compared with a previous value of 1.977 million.
Us durable goods orders in June compared with the initial value of 6.5%, the highest since July 2014, expected 3.7%, the previous value of-0.8% revised to-0.1%.
The U.S. merchandise trade account for June-$63.9 billion, is expected to be-$65.5 billion, with the previous value revised from-$65.9 billion to-$66.3 billion.
The Chicago Fed National activity Index for June is 0.13, expected to be 0.35, with a previous value of-0.26.
Housing vacancy data for the second quarter will be released at 10:00 Beijing time on Thursday.
In the European and Asia-Pacific markets:
European stocks fell slightly, with the European Stoxx 600 index now down 0.1%. By the close, the Prev was up 0.06 per cent at 3249 and the Shenzhen Composite was up 0.95 per cent at 10395. The gem index rose 3.62% to 1742 points. The Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.15%.
In the oil market:
Oil prices are basically flat. WTI9 monthly crude oil futures are up 0.06% at $48.78 a barrel. Brent October crude oil futures are now down 0.06% at $51.07 a barrel.
Other markets:
The dollar index rose 0.28% to 93.74. The euro fell 0.43% against the dollar to 1.1694. The pound / dollar rose 0.16% to 1.3139. The dollar / yen rose 0.39% to 111.52.
The price of gold soared. Us Comex December gold futures are up $12.70, or 1.01 per cent, at $1268.3.