Stocks – Wall Street Heads Higher: New Dow Record

Investing.com – U.S. stocks opened firmer Thursday as investors reacted positively to the apparent scaling down of tensions in the Middle East, turning their attention back to the economy’s sound fundamentals.

The index was trading 13 points higher, or 0.4%, by 9:45 AM ET (14:45 GMT), with the up 67 points, or 0.7%, and the up 124 points, or 0.4%, at a new all-time high of 28,869.44.

In a statement Wednesday President Donald Trump drew back from new military action after Iran’s missile strikes, instead stating that he would tighten already strong U.S. economic sanctions against the Middle East power. He did not state in which area these new sanctions would hit.

These comments came a few hours after Iran’s foreign minister said the missile strikes “concluded” its response to the killing of military leader Qassem Soleimani.

Investors have thus turned away from this spat and started to focus once more on the fundamentals surrounding the U.S. economy, including an easing Federal Reserve and strong employment growth.

Further evidence of the healthy employment situation came with the release of the latest weekly data, which fell more than expected last week, down 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 214,000 for the week ended Jan. 4. Economists had forecast claims would fall to 220,000 in the latest week. This follows Wednesday strong data and comes ahead of Friday’s key official employment release.

Bucking the general positive trend are a number of retail stocks which have suffered disappointing sales figures during the important holiday period.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ:) dropped almost 18% after stating after hours Wednesday that it would have to change its fiscal 2019 outlook after its earnings miss.

Kohl’s (NYSE:) also fell sharply, down 9.2%, after posting weak numbers in its key women’s business and stating that its 2019 earnings would be at the lower end of its forecast range.

JC Penney (NYSE:) also fell back after it said its same-store sales over the holiday period dropped 7.5%. Its shares dropped 5%.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.