Major stock Wall Street indices showed an increase during the second trading day of the year, supported by stocks of consumer goods companies in the sector, as well as the expectations of the investors of the December Fed meeting minutes.
According to the minutes, Fed officials noted "considerable uncertainty" regarding Trump policy impact on the economy. Almost all the leaders of the Central Bank believe that fiscal stimulus could accelerate the growth of the national economy in the next few years. However, the Fed emphasized the uncertainty with regards to the timing, scale and composition of future policies. In addition, Fed officials agreed that it is too early to say what changes will happen and how they will affect the economic outlook. Many participants of the meeting also talked about his concern at the fact that the increased uncertainty "hampered the process of communication about the likely course of interest rates." Recall that in December, Fed officials voted unanimously to increase the key rate to a range of 0.50% -0.75%.
In addition, as it became known today, the index of business activity in New York significantly improved the results of December, exceeding the estimates of experts, and showing the second consecutive monthly expansion. This is evidenced by a report published by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) in New York. According to the data, the index assesses the economic conditions in the sectors of production and services for the companies listed in New York, jumped in December to 63.8 points compared to 52.5 points in November. Economists had forecast that the index was 53.5 points.
Oil futures rose about 1.5 percent, which was due to expectations of reductions in US oil inventories and signs that oil producers will adhere to the agreed conditions to reduce oil production, which came into force this week. The American Petroleum Institute (API) will publish its data on oil reserves in the United States today, and tomorrow will come the official statistics from the US Department of Energy. Analysts expect the US Energy Department reported a decline in crude oil inventories of 2.3 million barrels. Recall the previous week crude oil inventories rose by 0.614 million barrels.
DOW index components closed mostly in positive territory (16 of 30). Most remaining shares rose NIKE, Inc. (NKE, + 2.28%). Outsider were shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO, -1.39%).
All business sectors S & P index ended the session in positive territory. The leader turned conglomerates sector (+ 2.4%).
At the close:
Dow + 0.30% 19,941.61 +59.85
Nasdaq + 0.88% 5,477.01 +47.93
S & P + 0.57% 2,270.72 +12.89