US stocks advance after weak start to the year
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, in New York City.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks posted strong gains on Jan 3, bouncing back from a losing streak as investors looked towards policies from Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8 per cent to 42,732.13, and the broad-based S&P 500 Index rose 1.3 per cent to 5,942.47.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.8 per cent to 19,621.68.
“Investors are anticipating a business friendly administration from Trump and his staff,” said Mr Jack Ablin, of Cresset Capital. Trump takes office on Jan 20.
The strong gains also came as Microsoft said in a blog post on Jan 3 that it is on track to invest about US$80 billion (S$100 billion) in fiscal year 2025 to build AI-enabled data centers to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications around the world.
Major US stock indexes have slipped for several straight trading sessions, but received a boost on Jan 3 from advances in major companies’ shares.
Survey data released early on Jan 3 also indicated that a US manufacturing slump showed some improvement in December, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
Among individual companies, US Steel shares lost 6.5 per cent after President Joe Biden announced he was blocking its proposed acquisition
The decision drew sharp criticism from both companies and came after a government panel failed to reach a consensus on whether the deal threatened US national security. AFP
