US stocks edge higher, healthcare bill vote awaited

Major US equity indices witnessed a positive opening on the last day of the week but the up-move lacked momentum as investors await a postponed vote on a closely watched health care bill.

Voting on the key health-care legislation would a key test for the Trump administration and would determine the fate of Trump's promised pro-growth economic policies. Any notable shortfall would seriously dent investors' confidence and might eventually result into another sell-off in the markets.

At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) added around 35-points to 20,695, while the broader S&P Index was up nearly 7-points to 2,353. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed and gained 33-points to 5,850. With today’s modest rise, DJIA snapped six consecutive days of losing streak but still remain on track for their worst weekly performance since November.

Meanwhile, market reaction to durable goods orders was largely muted, albeit remains supportive for the prevalent positive trading sentiment. According to the data released by the Commerce Department, new orders for durable goods climbed 1.7% in February, rising for the second straight month.

In currency markets, the key US Dollar Index continued with its struggle to register any meaningful recovery from multi-week lows and remained confined in a narrow range around mid-99.00s.

Technical outlook

Carol Harmer, Founder at charmertradingacademy.com writes, “DJI 20611 is the key today....because the trendline I have been watching intersects with this 38.2 med term fib ad this is what held us Wednesday....It might be prudent to attempt longs down to here keeping stops below 20580....as long as we can hold this region above stated there is a good chance we can remain in the uptrend and look initially for 20784 to 20830....Cover longs to here...Only above 20850 would we see further recovery..”