Wall Street closes at record highs on the back of strong earnings

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Fueled by the robust earnings reports, major equity indexes in the U.S. continued to push higher on Wednesday and closed the day at fresh record highs. In the meantime, the Federal Reserve decided to keep its monetary policy unchanged after its 2-day meeting and didn't provide any fresh insights on the economic outlook or the start of the balance sheet normalization.

"Following the statement, traders' bets that the Fed would raise rates at its December meeting stood at only 35 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data," Reuters said in a recent report. Financials, which usually gather strength on heightened expectations of interest rate hikes, remained in the red.

Coca Cola, AT&T, and Boeing were three of the biggest corporations that announced better-than-expected EPS and revenue results today. AT&T shares gained nearly 5% and allowed the telecommunications sector .SPLRCL to be the best performing sector of the day. Furthermore, energy sector received a boost from the rising crude oil prices after the EIA had announced another huge draw in crude inventories in the U.S. The barrel of West Texas Intermediate settled at $48.75, up $0.86.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 97.58 points, or 0.45%, to 21,711.01, the S&P 500 added 0.7 points, or 0.03%, to 2,477.83 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 10.57 points, or 0.16% percent, to 6,422.75.

After the closing bell, Facebook announced second quarter EPS at $1.32 (estimate $1.13) and revenue at $9.32B (estimate $9.20B).

Headlines from the U.S. session:

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

EUR/USD climbs to daily highs near 1.1820

EUR/USD now picks up pace and advances to the area of daily peaks north of the 1.1800 barrier at the end of the week. The pair’s decent move higher comes against the backdrop of a generalised lack of direction in the FX galaxy and the mild offered stance in the US Dollar.

GBP/USD trims losses, retests 1.3460

After briefly challenging its key 200-day SMA near 1.3440, GBP/USD now manages to regain some balance and revisit the 1.3460 zone on Friday. Cable’s pullback comes as the selling pressure on the Greenback gathers traction, reigniting some recovery in the risk-linked space.

Gold flirts with four-week highs past $5,200

Gold extends its rebound, climbing for a third consecutive session and pushing back above the $5,200 mark per troy ounce on Friday. The move higher continues to draw support from lingering geopolitical tensions and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding US trade policy, both of which are keeping safe-haven demand firmly in play.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple consolidate with short-term cautious bullish bias

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple are consolidating near key technical areas on Friday, showing mild signs of stabilization after recent volatility. BTC holds above $67,000 despite mild losses so far this week, while ETH hovers around $2,000 after a rejection near its upper consolidation boundary.

Changing the game: International implications of recent tariff developments

The Supreme Court ruling on International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs provides limited relief for the rest of the world, with weighted average tariff rates modestly lower.

Starknet unveils strkBTC, shielded Bitcoin transactions on Ethereum Layer 2

Starknet, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by StarkWare, today announced strkBTC, a wrapped Bitcoin asset that introduces optional shielding while preserving full DeFi composability.