Wall Street opens modestly higher supported by upbeat data

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Major equity indexes in the United States started the day in the positive territory boosted by the strong retail sales and weekly jobless claims data. However, the disappointing PMI figures published by the IHS Markit seems to be making it difficult for Wall Street to push higher. At the moment, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are up 0.37% and 0.12% on the day while the Nasdaq Composite is losing 0.07%.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, industrials gain more than 1% to lead the winners. On the other hand, healthcare and technology are down 0.5% and 0.2% in early trade.

Earlier in the session, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that retail sales increased by 1.6% in March and the weekly jobless claims fell to 192K, its lowest reading in nearly five decades.

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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