Wall Street closes modestly higher after choppy session

After starting the day slightly lower, major equity indexes gained traction and turned positive as investors digested today's mixed macroeconomic data from the U.S.

The third estimate of the real GDP growth for the second quarter edged higher to 3.1% but the Commerce Department's report noted that the growth in the third quarter was likely to be negatively affected by hurricanes Irma and Harvey. On the other hand, initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12K to 272K for the week ending September 23.

Following yesterdays robust performance (+1.3%), the S&P Financials Index (SPSY) added 0.12% on the day, while the Information Technology (SPLRCT) gained 0.08% to close the day above the critical 1000 threshold for the second day in a row. Commenting on today's market action, “the market is doing what it has been doing a lot of this year, it doesn’t surge to new levels, it just crawls to new levels,” Scott Wren, senior global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis, told Reuters.

In the meantime, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn told CNBC that repeal of the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax (AMT) would be immediate, heightening the expectations of the tax-reform going through the Senate before the end of the year. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) added 37.77 points, or 0.17%, to 22,378.48, the S&P 500 rose 2.83, or 0.07%, to 2,509.87 and the Nasdaq Composite closed virtually unchanged at 6,452.75, according to the latest available data provided by Reuters.

DJI technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, Chief Analyst at FXStreet, writes, "in the daily chart, the index has bounced back after nearing a sharply bullish 20 DMA, this last around 22,200, while the Momentum indicator has settled within positive territory after correcting extreme overbought readings, and now lacking clear directional strength, although the RSI indicator resumed its advance, now heading north around 66. In the 4 hours chart, and for the shorter term, the index retains the neutral-to-positive stance seen on previous updates, as it holds above a pretty much horizontal 20 SMA, while technical indicators lack directional strength within positive territory."

According to the analyst, supports could be seen at 22,353, 22,318 and 22,258 while resistances align at 22,425, 22,460 and 22,500.

Headlines from the NA session

• White House's Cohn: Repeal of estate tax and alternative minimum tax would be immediate
• Still a long way to go for tax reform - Danske Bank
• WTI headed for a strong close for the week still, despite the sell-off
• US Treasury Sec Mnuchin: Tax plan will pay for itself through economic growth
• Fed could still bow out of a December rate cut - Rabobank
• Fed’s George: We have seen a massive pickup in business investment
• US: Weekly initial claims was 272,000, an increase of 12,000 from previous week
• US: Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.1% in the second quarter of 2017
• US: International trade deficit was $62.9 bln in Aug, down $0.9 bln from $63.9 bln in July
• US: Wholesale inventories for Aug were estimated at $608.4 bln, up 1.0% from July 2017