Analytics, News, and Forecasts for CFD Markets: stock news — 21-02-2018.

The main US stock indices declined moderately, which was due to a further increase in fears about the growth of yield of government bonds.

The focus of investors' attention is also the protocol of the last meeting of the FOMC, which indicated that the Fed does not intend to raise interest rates at a higher rate. According to the document, the leaders of the Fed expect that rates will increase "gradually", while they are not too concerned about the possible overheating of the economy. Heads of the Central Bank in January, more highly estimated the potential growth rate of the US economy than in the December meeting.

Prior to the release of the minutes of the Fed meeting, some influence on the indices was provided by the US data. As it became known, in February in the US there was a noticeable improvement in the growth of business activity in the private sector of the economy. This was underscored by the growth of the seasonally adjusted preliminary composite PMI index from IHS Markit for the US to 55.9, compared to 53.8 in January, the highest since November 2015.

In addition, home sales in the US secondary market unexpectedly fell for the second month in a row in January, compounded by the constant deficit of houses, which pushes up prices and keeps primary home buyers out of the market. The National Association of Realtors said that home sales in the secondary market fell by 3.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual figure of 5.38 million units. The pace of sales in December was revised to 5.56 million units from previously registered 5.57 million units.

Most components of the DOW index finished the session in the red (26 of 30). Outsider were shares Walmart Inc. (WMT, -2.75%). The leader of growth was shares United Technologies Corporation (UTX, + 2.21%).

All sectors of the S & P index, except for the services sector (0.0%), recorded a drop. The utilities sector showed the greatest decrease (-1.2%).

At closing:

Dow -0.07% 24.947.47 -17.28

Nasdaq -0.22% 7.218.23 -16.08

S & P -0.55% 2,701.33 -14.93

U.S. stock-index futures were flat on Wednesday, as investors awaited the release of the minutes for the January FOMC meeting that could provide clues on the pace of interest rate hikes.

Global Stocks:

Nikkei 21,970.81 +45.71 +0.21%

Hang Seng 31,431.89 +558.26 +1.81%

Shanghai -

S&P/ASX 5,943.70 +2.80 +0.05%

FTSE 7,262.24 +15.47 +0.21%

CAC 5,279.81 -10.05 -0.19%

DAX 12,433.77 -54.13 -0.43%

Crude $61.41 (-0.61%)

Gold $1,331.20 (0.00%)

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) target raised to $136 from $133 at Morgan Stanley

Amazon (AMZN) target raised to $1750 from $1350 at MKM Partners

Alphabet A (GOOGL) target raised to $1355 from $1210 at MKM Partners

Home Depot (HD) target raised to $215 from $190 at Argus