Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit record highs as Amazon and Alphabet rise, US-Canada trade talks resume ...
Futures point to further Wall Street gains A rally in tech stocks led the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 to record highs, with Amazon, Alphabet and Apple leading the gains. Investor sentiment was also boosted by a resumption of U.S.-Canada trade talks.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9 percent while the S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent. Tech shares rose 1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 84 points as Apple rose 1 percent to an all-time high.
Amazon shares rose 2.8 percent to a record after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock, predicting a $1.2 trillion valuation for the company. Analyst Brian Nowak said Amazon's advertising, subscription and cloud businesses "will drive higher profitability and continued upward estimate revisions."
Shares of Google-parent Alphabet gained 1.5 percent after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock, making it the highest on Wall Street. The analysts cited Waymo, the company's self-driving auto unit, as the big upside catalyst for the stock.
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland rejoined NAFTA talks on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. and Mexico announced they had struck a bilateral trade deal. Freeland told reporters that Mexico's "difficult" concessions to the States earlier this week would help lead the way for productive discussions between the three countries this week.
On Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC that he was optimistic on striking a deal with Canada, but added that the White House was ready to go forward with Mexico alone, if it isn't executed. The U.S. is hoping an agreement with Canada will be made before the week ends.
Ramin Talaie | Corbis Historical | Getty Images General Motors (GM) CEO Dan Akerson, center, tours the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as GM stock goes on sale in New York, on November 18, 2010. "It's always positive for the market when there are negotiations," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. "The advantage Mexico had was that they have a new leader coming in, even though the outgoing president was also involved. With Canada, you have the same cast of negotiators" from when talks broke down.
The Canadian dollar rose marginally against its U.S. counterpart, erasing earlier losses. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there is a possibility a trade deal that includes Canada could be reached by Friday. He noted, however, that any NAFTA deal must be "the right deal for Canada."
The Mexican Peso rose 0.5 percent.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq eked out record closes on Tuesday as investors continued to cheer on the U.S.-Mexico trade breakthrough.
The U.S. economy grew at a stronger pace in the second quarter than previously thought. The Commerce Department raised its second-quarter economy growth estimate to 4.2 percent from an initial forecast of 4.1 percent.
"Today's estimate should also serve as another lesson to shelf geopolitical noise and focus on the fundamentals, which are nothing if not strong," said Mike Loewengart, vice president of investment strategy at E-Trade. "Jobs numbers are robust, and this number comes in after earnings season, which reflects broad corporate growth, particularly in retail, which bodes well for our economy. Some say we're late in the business cycle, but clearly there's more gas in the tank at least for now."
Source: Google News Canada | Netizen 24 Canada
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