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* Data shows U.S. economic growth picked up slightly in Q3
* Under Armour jumps on Raymond James upgrade
* Deere falls after warning of lower earnings
* Indexes up: Dow 0.02%, S&P 0.26%, Nasdaq 0.52%
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes hit record
highs on Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, as fresh
data pointed to a resilient domestic economy, while investors
remained optimistic about a resolution to U.S.-China trade
tensions.
U.S. economic growth picked up slightly in the third
quarter, rather than slowing as initially reported, and a steady
increase in consumer spending in October suggested that the
economy will probably maintain its moderate pace of growth in
the fourth quarter. "So long as the consumer stays somewhat strong, the markets
are in decent shape," said Sahak Manuelian, managing director,
equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
Consumer discretionary stocks .SPLRCD rose 0.77%.
Data also showed new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods
increased by the most in nine months in October. President Donald Trump's comments on Tuesday that the United
States was in the "final throes" of work on an agreement added
to optimism. "There are not a lot of details (on the trade deal), but it
has certainly fueled this 'hope trade' and so long as nothing
gets signed, the market will grind its way higher," Manuelian
said.
The main indexes have scaled record levels this month on
trade truce hopes, upbeat third-quarter earnings and a dovish
Federal Reserve.
Trading volumes are expected to be light ahead of the
Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday and an early-market close
on Friday.
At 12:46 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 5.63 points, or 0.02%, at 28,127.31, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 8.18 points, or 0.26%, at 3,148.70 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 44.79 points, or 0.52%, at 8,692.72.
Capping gains on the Dow was a 0.6% drop in shares of Boeing
Co BA.N after the Federal Aviation Administration said it
would be the only issuer of airworthiness certificates for new
737 MAX jets, the latest hurdle in the planemaker's bid to get
the plane back in the air. Deere & Co DE.N dropped 5% as the farm equipment maker
warned of lower earnings in 2020. Under Armour Inc UAA.N jumped 5.4% as Raymond James
upgraded the sportswear maker to "strong buy".
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.52-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.83-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 39 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 97 new highs and 29 new lows.