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* Nike shares rise on upbeat results
* Philip Morris jumps on calling off Altria merger
* Indexes up: Dow 0.6%, S&P 0.6%, Nasdaq 1.1%
(Updates to close)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 notched its
biggest daily gain in two weeks on Wednesday as investors
shrugged off the news of an impeachment inquiry into President
Donald Trump, while Nike shares jumped on upbeat quarterly
results.
Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday moved to launch a formal
inquiry into whether to impeach Trump, and indexes weakened
briefly early Wednesday after the White House released a summary
of a telephone call between Trump and Ukraine's president that
is at the center of the inquiry. Stocks rose as investors digested the news, recovering from
losses on Tuesday as the impeachment push gained momentum.
"We'll see what the Democrats do from here, whether they
move forward or not. It just doesn't appear that it's going to
be the distraction that yesterday the market thought it might
become. So the market's having a good day based on that," said
Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel
in New York, New York.
Helping sentiment, data showed that sales of new U.S.
single-family homes rebounded more than expected in August, a
sign that the struggling housing market was starting to get a
lift from lower borrowing rates. Nike Inc NKE.N shares jumped 4.2% after the company's
first-quarter results beat market expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 162.94 points,
or 0.61%, to 26,970.71, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 18.27 points,
or 0.62%, to 2,984.87 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
83.76 points, or 1.05%, to 8,077.38.
Among the day's top sector performers were technology and
communication services. The S&P 500 technology index .SPLRCT
was up 1.2%, while the Philadelphia chip index .SOX gained
1.8%.
"Good economic data is fighting with political noise and
good data is winning," said Michael Antonelli, market strategist
at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.
Adding to the stronger tone, Trump said a trade deal with
China could happen sooner than expected, comments that were in
contrast to his harsh rhetoric the day before. Also on the trade front, Trump and Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe announced initial details of an emerging trade deal
between the two countries, with Trump saying it would open up
Japanese markets to $7 billion worth of American products.
Shares in Philip Morris PM.N surged 5.2% after the tobacco
company called off merger talks with Altria Group Inc MO.N and
said it would instead focus on the U.S. launch of its
tobacco-heating product, iQOS. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.50-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.42-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 29 new highs and 103 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.67 billion shares, compared
to the 7.2 billion average for the full session over the last 20
trading days.