US stocks end strong week on winning note
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Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks finished a good week on a winning note on May 16 on continued optimism after the deescalation of the US-China trade war.
Analysts expect more trade deals, setting the stage for further equity gains after the turmoil in early April following US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcements.
FHN Financial’s Chris Low also pointed to a “growing sense of relief” over benign inflation data that has helped counter worries that Mr Trump’s tariffs will reignite pricing pressure.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.8 per cent higher at 42,654.74.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent to 5,958.38, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.5 per cent to 19,211.10.
Investors largely shrugged off weaker consumer sentiment data from the University of Michigan that reflect consumers’ “somber” economic outlook and expectations of higher inflation.
Mr Low also cited worries about the fate of Mr Trump’s fiscal and budget legislation in Washington.
The process on Capitol Hill is “by all accounts not going very well,” Mr Low said.
Among individual companies, Take-Two Interactive fell 2.4 per cent after announcing US$3.55 billion (S$4.6 billion) in one-time costs connected to the delay of the launch of its new Grand Theft Auto video game. The game developer recently pushed back the timeframe on the unveiling to May 2026.
Applied Materials dropped 5.3 per cent following disappointment with the semiconductor company’s outlook.
But UnitedHealth gained 6.4 per cent in a partial rebound from May 15’s big decline over a news report a criminal probe into the health giant. AFP
