US close: Wall Street beats records again as markets shrug off impeachment
US stocks finished in the green on Thursday, with Wall Street’s main boards once again beating records, as investors shrugged off the news of the US President's impeachment amid some mixed economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.49% at 28,376.96, the S&P 500 added 0.45% to 3,205.37, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.67% firmer at 8,887.22.
It was a record high close for all three indices, and the Nasdaq’s gain was its seventh day of increases on the trot.
At the open, the Dow was 72.48 points higher after a session of weakness on Wednesday, as House Democrats voted in favour of Donald Trump being impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
However, while market focus was still largely attuned to political developments in Washington on Thursday, major indices were somewhat steady as most market participants viewed the move as being unlikely to result in his removal from office given the Republican majority in the White House.
Trump became only the third president in US history to be charged with high crimes and misdemeanours.
“While the news cycle is full of last night’s impeachment of President Trump by House Democrats, financial markets have given the news a collective 'meh', and while US markets finished slightly lower, this news isn’t exactly a surprise to those who follow events in Washington DC,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
“The reality is no-one cares given that its highly improbable that the Senate will ratify proceedings, which means the story will inevitably die a death, and while Democrats will be able to point to a political victory ahead of next year’s presidential election, it’s unlikely to mean that much unless they can get behind a credible candidate to go up against the president.”
On the data front, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's business conditions index dropped to 0.3 in December from a reading of 10.4 in the previous month.
Elsewhere, weekly jobless claims fell to 234,000 from 252,000, according to the Department of Labor. However, the figure was still shy of a fall to 225,000 forecast on the Street.
Lastly, home-buying slowed down across the US in November, with many Americans being priced out of the market by rising prices and a shortage of listings.
The National Association of Realtors revealed that sales of existing homes fell 1.7% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35m.
In corporate news, pharmacy retail chain Rite Aid rocketed 41.8% after it reported third quarter earnings significantly ahead of market expectations, marking a major turnaround from its third quarter losses a year ago.
Food giant Conagra Brands was 15.87% firmer as it also reported better-than-expected earnings, and upped its outlook going forward.
On the downside, Darden Restaurants - owner of the middle-market Olive Garden brand - was 6.26% lower as it fell short of Street forecasts for both earnings per share and same-store sales.
Dow Jones - Risers
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $47.88 2.66%
3M Co. (MMM) $172.15 1.85%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $145.35 1.51%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $57.96 1.38%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $220.22 1.02%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $57.75 0.96%
Visa Inc. (V) $186.54 0.89%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $155.71 0.87%
Boeing Co. (BA) $333.50 0.85%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $54.32 0.76%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $145.02 -1.43%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $69.39 -0.69%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $137.35 -0.50%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $118.13 -0.35%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $229.94 -0.22%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $60.78 -0.10%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $146.15 -0.08%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $280.02 0.10%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $134.56 0.11%
S&P 500 - Risers
ConAgra Brands Inc (CAG) $33.66 15.87%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $332.22 3.56%
Ecolab Inc. (ECL) $191.78 3.28%
American Tower Corp (Reit) (AMT) $224.20 2.87%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $54.53 2.81%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $19.38 2.70%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $58.77 2.69%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $47.88 2.66%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $24.34 2.66%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $235.46 2.59%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) $109.03 -6.26%
Abiomed Inc. (ABMD) $169.43 -4.28%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $79.69 -3.55%
Macy's Inc. (M) $16.08 -2.72%
Snap On Inc. (SNA) $167.75 -2.25%
Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) $14.51 -2.22%
Hess Corp. (HES) $63.69 -2.11%
PVH Corp. (PVH) $104.66 -2.10%
FMC Corp. (FMC) $98.37 -1.89%
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) $143.90 -1.84%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $332.22 3.56%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $54.53 2.81%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $21.79 2.78%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $404.04 2.77%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $19.38 2.70%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $58.77 2.69%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $47.88 2.66%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $235.46 2.59%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $22.77 2.25%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $28.55 1.96%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $79.69 -3.55%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $109.10 -1.27%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $324.10 -1.02%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $217.78 -0.72%
Hologic Inc. (HOLX) $52.23 -0.70%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $96.29 -0.66%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $588.71 -0.60%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $58.45 -0.60%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $65.29 -0.59%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $121.82 -0.52%