Dow, S & P 500 close to record as investors take on more and more trade tensions

US stocks traded mostly on Wednesday afternoon as investors took action to improve economic fundamentals.

The Nasdaq was however lower, as the decline in technology stocks weighed on the index and limited the overall market.

Where are the main reference markets?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average

DJIA, + 0.66%

He gained 169 points, or 0.7%, at 26,416, which leaves him less than 1% of his closing historic high. It was 163 trading days since Dow's last record, the longest period in 288 days between May 2015 and July 2016, according to the Dow Jones Data Group.

The S & P 500

SPX, + 0.15%

added 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,907, to 0.3% of its record. Financial stocks were the best-performing stocks, recovering 2%, as the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 3.081%, its highest level since May 17th.

The Nasdaq Composite Index

COMP -0.11%

16 points, or 0.2%, to 7,939.

The volatility index of the Cboe

VIX -7,11%

down 7.3%, or 0.93, to 11.86. The so-called Wall Street fear index has fallen in seven of the last eight sessions and Wednesday is on track for its lowest settlement since 9 August and its biggest daily declines since 16 August.

Lily: Low volatility on Wall Street

What is the activity of the market?

Trading on Wall Street has been relatively moderate, with the earnings season largely over and few important economic indicators released this week. This has left markets open to the latest business developments.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump reiterated his tough stance on China at a press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda and said the US had "no choice" but to raise $ 267 billion more about China. This would add to advertised tariffs on about $ 200 billion of Chinese products announced Monday night.

China reacted by imposing tariffs of 5 to 10% on US products for $ 60 billion, which will come into effect on September 24, and said it could introduce more measures if US United States applied higher rates.

Technology stocks have one of the strongest correlations with trade because they generate a large percentage of their revenues outside the United States and because they depend on Asian markets for their supply chains. The sector is also one of the best performers of the year, up 16.9%, a gain that comes in second after the 18% rise in consumer discretionary stocks.

While many fear that a generalized trade war will become a huge obstacle to global economic growth, investors have repeatedly ignored the problem over the last few months, choosing instead to focus on the signs of economic activity. improvement of economic fundamentals.

Lily: How fears of war have become less of a factor for stock investors

At the latest economic data, the US current account deficit, a key component of a country's balance of payments, declined by 17 percent in the second quarter.

What do market analysts say?

"We could be at the top of the rhetoric of political trade, but with no visible effect on economic data, investors are just looking through the noise. We are essentially in a trading phase and until we have defined policies that we can evaluate, markets will continue to ignore them to some degree, "said Matt Forester, Lockwood Advisors' investment manager at BNY. Mellon.

"The US environment remains very positive, and there is a big difference between the sensitivity of the stock market to trade – which is the most important for large US stocks – and the sensitivity of the global economy," he said.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists credited the resilience of the market this week to the escalating trade war and the announcement of details helped to "clear the air" and convince investors that investors two countries treat.

What are the targeted stocks?

Amazon.com Inc.

AMZN, -0.94%

shares fell 1.4% at the announcement of the opening of a preliminary investigation by the European Union on how the online retailer deals with companies that sell their articles via Amazon.

Commercial Software Provider SAP SE

SAP, -0.57%

said that he would expand his partnership in online platform services with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Baba, + 3.58%

Shares listed in the US of SAP fell 0.7% while Alibaba rebounded 3.4%.

Microsoft Corp.

MSFT, -1.27%

Tuesday night, he announced that he would increase his quarterly dividend by almost 10%. The stock dropped 1.5%.

Related: Microsoft tries to steal Salesforce thunder with new virtual reality offerings

Shares listed in the United States of Bayer AG

Bayry, + 1.03%

rose 1% after the pharmaceutical company said that it was intensifying the legal defense of its flagship killer weed after a verdict in a recent case assumes that the chemical causes cancer.

The stock of Molecular Templates Inc.

MTEM, + 48.78%

jumped 56% after announcing a joint development partnership with Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.

TKPYY, -1.72%

Tilray Inc.

TLRY, + 8.61%

shares jumped 65%, building on a rebound of nearly 30% in the previous session after the US Drug Enforcement Administration approved a plan for the company to import a marijuana product to test The title was a favorite last month because investors are betting that marijuana-related stocks could see massive growth. Tilray jumped more than 600% over the past month.

Check-out: As Tilray soars, short sellers continue to bet on pot stocks

What are other markets doing?

European stocks completed Most Asian and Asian stock markets advanced as Japanese stocks jumped due to additional gains for the dollar-yen and Chinese equities dropped the new rates. The Bank of Japan reaffirmed that it would keep interest rates extremely low "for an extended period," but said it was introduced in July.

Crude oil

CLK9, + 1.02%

up nearly 2%, while gold prices

GCM9, + 0.46%

set higher and the US dollar index

DXY, -0.08%

belittled.

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