Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.34-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.33-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.
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Wall Street rose to records as shares of Macy’s and Kohl’s rallied, while oil prices gained amid fresh Saudi Arabia comments on talks about curbing output.
“It looks like U.S. markets are going to go higher until my daughter graduates, and she’s only 3 years old”, said Erik Wytenus, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Palm Beach Florida.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7 percent to 18,622.63, topping its record close reached three weeks ago, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.5 percent, on pace for a third record in five days.
Moreover, investors digested a number of earnings results from companies including Perrigo, JD.com and Disney.
ECONOMIC DATA: The Commerce Department said that USA retail sales held steady in July from the previous month, as Americans spent less at grocery stores, clothing shops, sporting goods and electronics and appliance outlets. The chain is scheduled to release earnings early Friday.
Nordstrom rose 6.4 per cent in the run-up to the results after market closes, while J.C. Penney, which reports on Friday, was up 8 per cent. Ex-auto sales had been expected to rise by 0.2 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index shed 6.25 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,175.49.
Not all companies had favorable quarterly results. The restaurant operator, which said it plans to shutter 95 of its company-owned locations by September, slumped 43 cents, or 11.5 percent, to $3.30.
The Dow is up 32.94 points, or 0.2 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent.
OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 7 cents to $41.66 after closing at $41.71 a barrel in New York Wednesday.
David Hussey, Head of European Equities, Manulife Asset Management discusses his outlook for stocks as the pan-European STOXX 600 index recovers all of its post-Brexit losses. Chesapeake Energy rose 21 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $5.01.
ASIA’S DAY: Earlier, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index finished 0.4 percent up at 22,580.55.
The low oil prices that pulled the USA stocks down affected Asian stocks too with regional volumes influenced by Japan’s stock exchange closure.
A 0.1% drop at 3,015.16 was experienced by China’s Shanghai composite while South Korea’s KOSPI plummets down at 0.3% to 2,038.73 after the country’s central bank decision to retain its monetary policy rate. Natural gas fell a penny to $2.55 per 1,000 cubic feet.
“It’s people who are looking at the fundamentals of their business every day and seeing a picture that’s deteriorating”, said James Abate, who helps oversee $1 billion as chief investment officer at Centre Funds in NY.
Michael Kors slid 2.8 percent after the clothing company forecast weaker sales for the current quarter and lowered its outlook for sales at established stores.
Excluding food and energy prices, core producer prices dipped by 0.3 percent in July following a 0.4 percent increase in June.
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CURRENCIES: In currency markets, the dollar rose to 101.39 yen from 101.20 on Wednesday. The euro weakened to $1.1167 from $1.185.
