- Stocks on Wall Street were pressured on Thursday due to disappointments in the US retail sales data and concerning notice over the progress, or there lack of, in trade negotiations between the US and Chinese officials.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, dropped fell 103.88 points, or 0.4%, to close at 25,439.39, while the S&P 500 index lost a modest 7.30 points, or 0.3%, to 2,745.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index bucked the trend, and ended up 6.58 points to 7,426.95, clinging to some diminished optimism over trade talks.
US trade in focus
The US and China "have made little progress so far" during talks in Beijing, according to a WSJ report and a more recent Bloomberg story repeating the information. Corporate governance and structural reforms are - "an extremely sensitive issue that is seen as a non-starter for Chinese leaders," the Bloomberg story argued, adding, "The hurdles raise questions about whether negotiators can meet Trump’s criteria for pushing back the March 1 deadline for more than doubling tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods" - That is Aussie dollar negative and potentially U.S. dollar bullish.
Best and worst performers
As for corporate news, the Dow's best performer, Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, added 1.9% on a beat in earnings and outlook. The index's worst performer was Coca-Cola Co. KO, and it dropped a hefty 8.4% falling short of fourth-quarter revenue expectations.
DJIA levels
The technical indicators in the DJIA keep positive as the index continued to climb within a whisker of the 76.4% Fibo at 25668. The next key upside target is R2 at 25702 ahead of R3 at 25965. However, a break of the pivot at 28147 and a test back below the 61.8% fibo opens risk back to the strong support level at the 50% Fibo of the same measure located at 24215 meeting the 21st Jan fractal lows of 24243.
- Support levels: 24854 24591 24299
- Resistance levels: 25668 25702 25965
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