Wall Street close: Bulls keep the baton following upbeat US data/results

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average, DJIA, climbed 88.92 points, or 0.30%, to end at 29,379.77.
• The S&P 500 added 11.09 points, or 0.33%, to finish at 3,345.78.
• The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 63.47 points, +0.67%, ending Thursday at 9,572.15.

Wall Street’s performance on Thursday keeps portraying the market’s risk-on sentiment as the key benchmarks keep flashing record highs. While some at the desks would highlight tech stocks’ rally, led by Apple, others will simply concentrate on the US data/events and trade headlines from China as the key positive factors.

China’s commitment to halve the tariffs on some of the US goods offered an initially positive start to the stocks. The dragon nation seems to respect its phase-one deal terms and is turning down the fears of a bumpy road to phase-two agreement negotiations.

The weekly jobless claims and quarterly Nonfarm Productivity flashed better than forecast numbers whereas Unit Labor Costs for Q4 also met the expectations of 1.4% growth. Considering Wednesday’s strong ADP numbers, coupled with the recent positive data, market players anticipate welcome US jobs report.

Concerns that Apple will increase AirPods production helped infuse the tech stocks while the current risk-on added further strength to the momentum.

It’s worth mentioning that investors paid a little heed to the US President Donald Trump’s impeachment related headlines that receded fears of the Republican leader’s ousting. Further, coronavirus fears remain on the cards with no solutions found.

Looking forward, investors will follow the January month employment results for fresh impulse on Friday whereas updates concerning coronavirus could also offer market moves.