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© Reuters.
Investing.com – The S & P 500 posted strong gains on Friday to close above a key level, dismissing data pointing to a slowdown in global and economic growth in the US, the hope of a trade agreement between China and China preserving risk appetite.
The increase of 0.43%. The addition of 0.69% closed above 2,800 for the first time since November 8th. He gained 0.83%.
Despite the recovery, the Dow finished a slight decline – 0.02% – for the week, after nine consecutive weeks of gains. The S & P 500 gained 0.4%, the fifth consecutive increase. Nasdaq added 0.9% over the week and posted gains for nine straight weeks.
As Wall Street entered a new month, traders were reminded of the headwinds that could hinder progress toward evasive gains. One of the most important: the US economy continued to show signs of slowing.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity, in December. for February missed the expectations of 55.5.
The decline in personal expenses has been the largest since 2009, BMO said. The bank added that the report "gives more credibility to the catastrophic retail sales figure released a few weeks ago."
But the "trepidation" of the consumer at the end of the year is more than enough to keep the Federal Reserve on the sidelines for now, BMO said.
The disappointing data came after the Chinese economy showed a decline in factory activity for the third consecutive month. However, the pace of the slowdown has moderated, suggesting a dip.
The sentiment on Wall Street has been reinforced by signs that US and Chinese negotiators are on the verge of concluding a trade deal.
"We made a lot of progress last week when the Chinese were here," said Friday at Fox Business, Larry Kudlow, director of the National Council of the Economy. "The agreements reached last week represent considerable progress in intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer, property, cyber-interference and, perhaps more importantly, enforcement."
Beyond the exchanges, the markets were fueled by a rise in energy stocks despite a drop in oil prices linked to signs of weakness in the Chinese economy.
Retailers also led the charge for major averages with a 16.2% increase at Gap.
Gap (NYSE 🙂 announced Thursday that it would split into two parts, turning its rapidly growing Old Navy brand into a separate company. The other company, which has not yet been nominated, will include the Gap, Athleta, Banana Republic, Intermix and Hill City brands. The news came when the retailer revealed mixed results, exceeding estimates on the bottom line but missing on the top line.
In other news from the company, Amazon.com (NASDAQ 🙂 reportedly opened a dozen grocery stores, Los Angeles being touted as the location of the first store, reported the Wall Street Journal. The news sent shares of giant supermarkets Kroger (NYSE :), slipping by 4.47%. Amazon grew by almost 2%.
Main winners and losers of the S & P 500 today:
Dentsply Sirona (Nasdaq :), Gap (NYSE 🙂 and Masco (NYSE 🙂 were among the top winners of the S & P 500 for the session.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ :), Nektar Therapeutic (NASDAQ 🙂 and Kroger (NYSE 🙂 were some of the worst performers in the S & P 500 session.
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