Wall Street ends the day modestly higher, S&P 500 eases off record highs

S&P 500 touches new all-time high on Tuesday.
Trade-sensitive Industrials extend the rally.
Consumer staples offset gains.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Major equity indexes started the day slightly higher on Tuesday and extended their gains during the first half of the session as the S&P 500 Index advanced to a new record high.

“We’ve got good momentum, which is fundamentally justified by the strong economy and better earnings. Investors still seem relatively optimistic about growth, and you’re seeing that expressed in the market today,” Kevin Caron, senior portfolio manager at Washington Crossing Advisors in Florham Park, New Jersey, told Reuters.

Earlier today, China's foreign ministry in a published statement said that they wished to settle the trade dispute with the U.S. via negotiations later this week in Washington and hoped that both sides could reach a good outcome. The trade-sensitive S&P 500 Industrials Index gained 0.75%. On the back of strong earnings reports of the major players in the sector, the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary added 0.9% to become the top performer of the day. On the other hand, the rival S&P 500 Consumer Staples Index fell 0.77%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 65.8 points, or 0.26%, to 25,824.49 and the Nasdaq Composite gained added 39.40 points, or 0.5%, to 7,860.41. After touching a new all-time high at 2,873.23, the S&P 500 closed the day 6.19 points, or 0.22%, higher at 2,863.24.

DJIA technical outlook via FXStreet Chief Analyst Valeria Bednarik

Up for a fourth consecutive session, the Dow is trading at levels last explored early February, retaining a positive technical stance according to readings in the daily chart, although with limited strength, as the Momentum holds flat above its 100 level while the RSI advances modestly, currently near overbought levels. In the mentioned chart, the index advances firmly above all of its moving averages.

In the shorter term, and according to the 4 hours chart, the Dow advances well above a sharply bullish 20 SMA, the RSI consolidates in overbought levels, while the Momentum indicator keeps diverging lower, now reaching fresh weekly lows within positive readings, not enough to support a decline, but increasing the chance of a downward corrective movement ahead.

Support levels: 25,794 25,738 25,682.

Resistance levels: 25,826 25,879 25,936.

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.

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