Major US stock indexes finished trading in positive territory

Major US stock indexes rose moderately, as results exceeded expectations Estee Lauder and Ralph Lauren spurred optimism about corporate reporting in anticipation of the long-awaited US President's report to Congress on the situation in the country.

Trump's speech before the Congress should take place at 02:00 GMT on Wednesday. Market participants will listen carefully to Trump's speech, hoping to find out the latest news about trade negotiations with China and the wall on the border with Mexico. Earlier it was reported that the American president is considering the use of emergency powers to fulfill his promise to finance the wall on the border with Mexico. Trump agreed to stop the 35-day partial closure of the federal government (“shatdaun”) last week, without receiving the necessary $ 5.7 billion for the construction of the wall.

The focus of market participants was also on US data. A report by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) pointed to a slowdown in business growth in the services sector last month. The index of business activity in the service sector from ISM fell in January to 56.7 points compared to 58.0 points in December. Analysts predicted that the index will drop to 57.2 points. A value greater than 50 is usually considered as an indicator of growth in production activity.

Separate data showed that the US economic optimism index, calculated by Investor's Business Daily newspaper and TechnoMetrica Institute of Policy and Politics, fell in February to 50.3 points from 52.3 points in January and reached its lowest level since October 2017. Experts expected the index to rise to 53.1 points. It is worth emphasizing that the index is above the level of 50 points for 29 months in a row (since October 2016), which is the longest series in the entire history of this study, that is, more than a decade. At the same time, the index is now 2.3 points higher than its long-term average value and 2.3 points higher than the indicator of December 2007, when the economy entered a recession.

Most of the components of DOW finished trading in positive territory (18 out of 30). The growth leader was the shares of The Boeing Co. (BA, + 3.18%). Pfizer Inc. shares turned out to be an outsider. (PFE, -0.66%).

All sectors of the S & P recorded an increase. The largest growth was shown by the service sector (+ 0.9%).

At the time of closing:

Dow 25,411.52 +172.15 +0.68%

S & P 500 2,737.66 +12.79 +0.47%

Nasdaq 100 7,402.08 +54.55 +0.74%