The main US stock indexes finished trading on the positive territory

The main US stock indices grew strongly, which was facilitated by the fading fears that the threat of President Donald Trump to impose high tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum would cause a global trade war.

In addition, the focus was on statistics for the United States. As it became known, business activity in the US services sector expanded sharply in February, according to the latest PMI data. The increase in production volume accelerated to a maximum since August 2017. In addition, customer demand has led to a sharp increase in new orders, which have grown as much as almost three years. The pressure of capacity has increased due to the growth in demand, while the unfinished production has grown to the maximum extent since March 2015. Meanwhile, the inflation of both procurement and holiday prices has accelerated, and the fastest pace since June 2015. The seasonally adjusted final US business activity index from IHS Markit rose to 55.9 in February, up from 53.3 in January. After falling to a nine-month low in the previous survey period, the pace of expansion of business activity was the fastest since August 2017.

At the same time, the index of business activity in the US services sector, calculated by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), fell to 59.5 points in February, compared with 59.9 points in January. Analysts predicted that the figure will drop to 59.0 points. Recall, the indicator is the result of a survey of about 400 firms from 60 sectors across the US. A value greater than 50 is usually considered an indicator of the growth of production activity.

Almost all components of the DOW index finished trading in positive territory (29 out of 30). Caterpillar Inc. was the growth leader. (CAT, + 3.37%). Outsider were the shares of NIKE, Inc. (NKE, -1.06%).

All sectors of S & P recorded a rise. The conglomerate sector grew most (+ 2.8%).

At closing:

Dow + 1.37% 24.874.76 +336.70

Nasdaq + 1.00% 7.330.70 +72.84

S & P + 1.10% 2,720.94 +29.69