The event that markets were anticipating was President Trump’s speech at the New York Economic Club. Trump’s comments were generally taken positively as they conveyed a sense of progress regarding US-China negotiations toward a trade deal though no details had been disclosed.
Trump also took the opportunity to criticize the Federal Reserve, stating that the markets would have been much higher if the Fed’s stance on interest rates wasn’t as hawkish as it had been over the last year.
“And if we had a Federal Reserve that worked with us, you could have added another 25% to each of those numbers, I guarantee you that,” Trump commented, referring to percentage gains in US indexes.
Although there wasn’t much in terms of economic reports and releases, the NFIB small business optimism index came in moderately higher, showing October figures at 102.4, higher than the expected 102.0 consensus.
On the earnings front, there were notable gains by Disney, it’s shares rising more than 1% partly due to its new Disney+ streaming service, and Facebook, whose shares rose 2.6% upon announcing a new payment functionality accessible via FB applications.
The S&P 500 closed at 3,091.84, up 0.2%–establishing a new intraday record.The Dow remained virtually unchanged at 27,691.49. The Nasdaq climbed 0.3%, closing at 8,486.09.
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