US stocks hit new record-highs on strong earnings and rising oil prices

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

After an extended weekend, the US stock markets resumed trading on Tuesday and witnessed a strong opening, with all the three major indices hitting new intraday record high levels.

Investors cheered better-than-expected earnings report from top US retailers - Home Depot Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., while rising crude oil prices also contributed towards boosting investors' appetite for riskier assets - like equities.

At the time of writing this report, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up over 90-points to 20,715, while the broader S&P 500 Index gained around 10-points to 2,361. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index added nearly 25-points and rose to 5,862.

On economic data front, a slight disappointment from lower-than-expected flash US PMI prints did little to hinder the prevalent upbeat sentiment. Both the services and the manufacturing gauges held comfortably above 50 mark, but pointed to a slowing pace of growth during February.

1. R3 2351.4467
2. R2 2350.6133
3. R1 2349.9467
PP 2349.1133
1. S1 2348.4467
2. S2 2347.6133
3. S3 2346.9467

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

EUR/USD keeps the offered stance just above 1.1700

EUR/USD is coming under heavy selling pressure in what has been a rather grim start to the new trading week, with the pair now trading close to the 1.1700 support area as the US Dollar stages a solid rebound. The prevailing flight to safety mood continues to favour the Greenback, as investors react to the escalating conflict in the Middle East and trim risk exposure across the board.

GBP/USD hits new yearly lows near 1.3300

GBP/USD adds to the recent bearish tone, approaching to the key 1.3300 support to reach fresh YTD troughs against the backdrop of the robust performance of the US Dollar. Indeed, Cable’s decline comes amid the firm demand for the safe-haven space in the wake of the US and Israel attacks to Iran.

Gold trims losses, back below $5,400

Gold now surrenders part of the earlier advance past the $5,400 mark per troy ounce at the beginning of the week. Indeed, the precious metal’s strong uptick remains fuelled by increasing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East amid the intense demand for safer assets.