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* U.S. housing starts race to 13-year high in December
* Schlumberger rises after Q4 earnings beat
* Tech stocks boost Wall St again
* Indexes up: Dow 0.09%, S&P 0.21%, Nasdaq 0.05%
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Sruthi Shankar and Susan Mathew
Jan 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street indexes hit new record highs
on Friday after strong U.S. housing data and signs of resilience
in the Chinese economy raised hopes of a rebound in global
growth.
Market sentiment brightened this week after the United
States and China sealed the Phase 1 trade deal, pausing an
18-month tariff dispute that has weighed on financial markets
globally.
The main indexes were on track to end with weekly gains of
over 1.5% in what could be their strongest performance in 2020.
Earlier in the day, data showed China ended 2019 on a
somewhat firmer note, even as economic growth cooled to its
weakest in nearly 30 years. Meanwhile, U.S. homebuilding surged to a 13-year high in
December, suggesting the housing market recovery was back on
track amid low mortgage rates. "The macro data points both here and abroad have been
relatively positive," said Michael James, managing director of
equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
"That is creating an increased sense of optimism going into
not just the earnings, but also guidance which is far more
important at this point for both Q1 and fiscal 2020."
Analysts expect earnings at S&P 500 companies to drop 0.8%
in the fourth quarter, but forecast a 5.8% rise in the first
quarter of 2020, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Billionaire David Tepper, who founded hedge fund Appaloosa
Management, told CNBC that he remains bullish on U.S. equities.
"We have been long and continue that way." At 1:01 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 0.09% to 29,325.17. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.21% to
3,323.61 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 0.05% at
9,362.01.
In a thin day for earnings, oilfield service provider
Schlumberger NV SLB.N reported a slightly better-than-expected
quarterly profit, sending its shares up 0.3%. Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O rose 1%, extending
gains after it became the fourth U.S. company to top a market
value of $1 trillion on Thursday.
Technology majors including Visa Inc V.N , Apple Inc
AAPL.O and Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O were the top boosts to the
S&P 500.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.27-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a
1.06-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 122 new 52-week highs and no new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 186 new highs and nine new lows.