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* U.S. housing starts race to 13-year high in December
* Billionaire David Tepper bullish on U.S. equities
* Indexes: Dow +0.08%, S&P 500 +0.22%, Nasdaq +0.08%
(Updates to afternoon)
By Noel Randewich
Jan 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street edged up to 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 further this week after the
United States and China sealed a 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.
Many investors expect companies to be more upbeat about the
future following the truce in the China-U.S. trade war.
"We think the most important thing this earnings season will
be what CEOs say about their outlooks," said Scott Ladner, chief
investment officer at Horizon Investments in Charlotte. "That
always matters, but we think that because of the speed at which
some of these global uncertainties have been resolved, it's
unlikely we will see those things coming through in the
numbers."
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," he said.
At 2:42 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 0.08% at 29,321 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.22%
to 3,323.95.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.08% to 9,364.46.
In a thin day for earnings, oilfield service provider
Schlumberger NV SLB.N reported a slightly better-than-expected
quarterly profit, but its stock dipped 1.1%. Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O rose 1.2%, 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 provided among the top boosts
to the S&P 500.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.23-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.19-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 123 new 52-week highs and no new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 195 new highs and 10 new lows.