President Trump touts the numerous stock market records that have been reached since he took office.
Stocks continued their record run Friday as all three major averages opened at all-time highs, boosted by strong housing data.
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Housing starts surged 16.9 percent in December to an annualized 1.608 million units, the census bureau said Friday, topping the 1.375 million units that were expected by the Refinitiv consensus. Meanwhile, building permits slipped 3.9 percent to 1.416 million units, but that was coming off a strong November reading. Economists surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting a consensus of 1.468 million units.
The S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite were all trading in record territory, adding to Thursday’s gains that were fueled by the Senate’s ratification of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The day prior, President Trump and a Chinese official inked a partial trade deal. Together, the two deals cover more than $2 trillion of trade.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 3322.85 | +6.04 | +0.18% |
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 29344.28 | +46.64 | +0.16% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 9367.950927 | +10.82 | +0.12% |
Homebuilders were all higher after the strong housing data.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOL | TOLL BROTHERS | 44.76 | +0.12 | +0.26% |
| LEN | LENNAR | 63.90 | +0.71 | +1.12% |
| KBH | KB HOME | 37.10 | +0.56 | +1.53% |
Elsewhere, Google-parent Alphabet was gaining ground after it became the fourth U.S. company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization.
Gap shares were higher after torpedoing plans to spin-off the discount chain Old Navy. The company said the “cost and complexity of splitting into two companies, combined with softer business performance” limited its ability to create the appropriate value from such a separation.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 1,459.31 | +9.15 | +0.63% |
| GPS | GAP | 18.37 | -0.24 | -1.29% |
Looking at earnings, the oil field services provider Schlumberger reported a full-year loss of $10.1 billion after writing down the value of two of its acquisitions and amid declining demand for its fracking services in North America.
The logistics-services provider JB Hunt Transportation Services reported fourth-quarter revenue that fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Pinterest rallied after Walls Fargo upgraded shares to “overweight” and raised its price target to $30 from $28 due to strong fundamentals and solid user engagement. Additionally, UBS cut its price target to $24 from $28.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SLB | SCHLUMBERGER LIMITED | 39.76 | +0.98 | +2.53% |
| JBHT | J.B. HUNT TRANSPORT SERVICES, INC. | 114.30 | -5.46 | -4.56% |
| PINS | PINTEREST INC. | 23.58 | +0.63 | +2.75% |
On the commodities front, gold was up 0.7 percent at $1,561 an ounce and West Texas Intermediate crude oil was higher by 0.5 percent at $58.85 a barrel.
U.S. Treasurys were lower, causing the yield on the 10-year note to climb by 2.1 basis points to 1.83 percent.
Markets rallied across Europe with Britain’s FTSE up 1 percent, France’s CAC higher by 0.8 percent and Germany’s DAX gaining 0.5 percent.
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Hong Kong’s Hang Seng paced the advance in Asia, up 0.6 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei added 0.5 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite ended little changed.
