Wall Street close: No stopping the bull's train, S&P/NASDAQ score record closes

US benchmarks were milking the gravy train again on Monday, with all three closing higher while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh record highs on the news that the Chinese trade delegation landed safely in the US to sign a phase-one rade deal later this week and that the Trump Administration is seeking to retract its designation of China as a "currency manipulator". All in all, things are looking bright for the US and Chinse future relationship which investors are running with. 

Subsequently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, DJIA, advanced around 82 points, or 0.3%, to end at 28,906 while the S&P 500 climbed 23 points, or 0.7% to end the session at about 3,288. The Nasdaq Composite index added 95 points, or 1% to close at about 9,274.

The week ahead

It is going to be a busy week with plenty of scheduled events sure to make for trading opportunities, with US economic releases including the December Consumer Price Index, Retail Sales data and some regional manufacturing surveys. However, there is a risk that markets will sell the fact of the signing of the phase one trade deal so some profits could be taken off and banked from these currency upside moves leading into the event. 

As for US CPI, "the overall CPI (forecast: up 0.3%) was probably boosted by energy prices, which were falling a year ago; the YoY change probably rose to 2.4% from 2.1%. We expect a 0.2% rise in the trend-setting core index," according to analysts at TD Securities. 

"The 12-month change in core probably held at 2.3%, although it is a close call between 2.3% and 2.4%. A 0.22% m/m rise would likely be enough for 2.4%; we have 0.21%."

DJIA levels