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* Best Buy jumps on solid holiday-quarter profit forecast
* Consumer confidence in November weaker than expected
* Dow up 0.2%, S&P 500 up 0.22%, Nasdaq up 0.18%
(Updates to market close)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Nov 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks crawled higher on
Tuesday, and all three major Wall Street indexes notched record
levels, as upbeat comments by President Donald Trump on trade
talks eclipsed some softer-than-anticipated economic data.
Trump said the United States and China were close to an
agreement on the first phase of a deal, while stressing
Washington's support for protesters in Hong Kong, a point of
contention between the world's two largest economies.
"Right now the characterization is things are pretty good so
we are kind of gaining on it, but until it is done, it is not
done," said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon
Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina. "So a holding pattern
is probably, unfortunately, a very appropriate place for the
market to be right about now."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 55.21 points,
or 0.2%, to 28,121.68, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 6.88 points, or
0.22%, to 3,140.52 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 15.45
points, or 0.18%, to 8,647.93.
Walt Disney Co DIS.N gained 1.30% after a report that its
streaming service was averaging nearly 1 million new subscribers
a day. The stock helped keep the Dow Jones Industrial Average on
the plus side, providing about 20 points to the upside.
Rising hopes for a trade deal between the world's two
largest economies, solid U.S. economic indicators and a
third-quarter corporate earnings season that has largely topped
lowered expectations have pushed stocks higher. The three major
indexes have now notched a record close in five of the past
eight sessions.
Also supporting stocks has been the dovish turn by the
Federal Reserve, which has cut interest rates three times this
year. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Monday that monetary
policy was "well positioned" to support the strong labor market.
Investors are watching for signs on the health of the
consumer for the holiday shopping season. Consumer confidence
fell for a fourth straight month in November but remained at
levels sufficient to support a steady pace of consumer spending,
according to data on Tuesday. A separate report showed that new
home sales unexpectedly dropped in October, although data for
the prior month was revised up, with purchases hitting their
highest level in over 12 years. Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher. The
consumer discretionary sector .SPLRCD rose 0.81% and provided
the biggest boost, led by a 9.86% jump in shares of Best Buy Co
Inc BBY.N following a strong holiday-quarter profit forecast.
In contrast, Dollar Tree Inc DLTR.O tumbled 15.24% after
it projected holiday-quarter profit below estimates, signaling
the fallout from the trade dispute. Best Buy was the best performer on the S&P 500, while Dollar
Tree was the biggest drag on both the S&P and the Nasdaq.
Among other stocks, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE.N
fell 8.48% as the enterprise software maker missed
fourth-quarter revenue estimates. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.96 billion shares, compared
to the 7.12 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days. Trading volume is expected to lighten
considerably in the sessions surrounding the Thanksgiving
holiday on Thursday.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.34-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.01-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 36 new 52-week highs and one new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 120 new highs and 66 new lows.