NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Further smaller gains pushed the widely noticed, market-wide US index S&P 500 to another record high on Thursday. In early trading, it gained 0.28 percent to 4309.45 points and thus expanded its exceptionally strong half-year profit.
The Dow Jones Industrial rose 0.16 percent to 34,558.23 points and is approaching the 35,000 point hurdle that it had overcome for the first and last time in May. The technology-heavy Nasdaq indices were almost unchanged. The selection index Nasdaq 100 stepped on the spot with plus 0.02 percent to 14 558.19 points.
“The US benchmark index remains on the north course and still has some room for improvement before it is technically overheated again,” said Andreas Büchler of Index-Radar on the development since mid-June. Although he remains cautious as to whether the Dow will manage to reach a new peak again soon, he is rather optimistic.
The economic data could be a support for the stock exchanges, but on this day they were a bit mixed. The fact that the weekly initial applications for work aid fell significantly and that the mood in the US industry in June was “very good” and indicated “sustained strong growth”, despite the noted year-on-year decline, should have been positive. At the same time, however, construction expenditures surprisingly fell in May instead of continuing to rise, as had been expected. The official labor market report for June, which will be published this Friday and will play an important role in the monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), is also eagerly awaited./ck/men
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