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* Best Buy jumps on solid holiday-quarter profit forecast
* Disney gains on bullish streaming service signups report
* Dollar Tree slumps on dour forecast as tariffs weigh
* Consumer confidence in November weaker than expected
* Indexes up: Dow 0.10%, S&P 0.16%, Nasdaq 0.26%
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 26 (Reuters) - Wall Street's three main indexes held
steady near all-time highs on Tuesday, as positive comments on
trade by President Donald Trump, along with gains for Disney and
Best Buy, encouraged investors to shrug off weak economic data.
The United States was in the "final throes" in its attempt
to reach a deal with China, Trump said, although he added
Washington stood with protesters in Hong Kong, a sore point with
Beijing. Walt Disney Co DIS.N gained 2.2% after a report that its
streaming service was averaging nearly a million new subscribers
a day. The stock propped up the Dow Jones Industrial Average and
the benchmark S&P 500. Rising trade truce hopes, upbeat domestic economic
indicators and a third-quarter corporate earnings season that
has largely topped lowered expectations have put the market back
on an upward track after a torrid summer.
"When you take a look at all the (trade) comments that have
come out, the markets have reacted a little bit to it, but it
certainly creates a positive bias," said Paul Nolte, portfolio
manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.
"The second part is that Thanksgiving week tends to be
positive for stocks as well."
The three interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this
year have also boosted risk appetite, and Fed Chair Jerome
Powell said on Monday monetary policy was "well positioned" to
support the strong labor market. However, concerns over the strength of the U.S. consumer
returned after data on Tuesday showed the Conference Board's
U.S. consumer confidence index missed analysts' projections.
Commerce Department data showed an unexpected drop in new home
sales last month.
Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher. The
consumer discretionary sector .SPLRCD , rose 0.69%, and
provided the biggest boost, powered by a 12.1% jump in shares of
Best Buy Co Inc BBY.N following a strong holiday-quarter
profit forecast. But Dollar Tree Inc DLTR.O tumbled 16.7% after it
projected holiday-quarter profit below estimates, signaling the
fallout from the trade dispute. Best Buy was the top gainer on the S&P 500, while Dollar
Tree was among the biggest drags on the S&P and the Nasdaq.
At 1:13 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 29.36 points, or 0.10%, at 28,095.83, whil the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 4.99 points, or 0.16%, at 3,138.63. The Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 22.09 points, or 0.26%, at 8,654.57.
Among other stocks, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE.N