Mixed finish for US stocks at Wall Street

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 18,000 for the first time

US stocks ended in mixed mode on Tuesday, 23 December 2014 at Wal Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 18,000 for the first time on Tuesday and the S&P 500 notched up its 51st record close of the year, underscoring confidence in the strength of the U.S. economy. The advances were relatively modest, particularly after some of last week's monster gains. But investors appeared to be particularly heartened by a far-stronger-than-expected revision to third-quarter economic growth that put the U.S. on its best pace in 11 years.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 index set an intraday record of 2,086.75 and closed up 3.6 points, or 0.2%, at 2,082.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 64.73 points, or 0.4%, to 18,024.17, closing at a record level for the 36th time in 2014. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished 16.00 points, or 0.3%, lower at 4,765.42, thanks to a large selloff in biotechnology stocks.

25 of Dow's 30 components ended higher. Of the Dow's 30 components, the biggest contributors to the index's latest 1,000-point gain have been the shares of Visa and Goldman Sachs which have added about 313 points and 167 points, respectively, to the index's price. The biggest weight has been the shares of IBM, which have shaved off about 169 points.

Nine of ten sectors registered gains with the energy space ending in the lead followed by the materials stocks while the health-care sector closed with a 2.2% loss.

On Tuesday, the dollar climbed on the back of data showing the U.S. economy expanded by the fastest pace in 11 years in the third quarter. The gross domestic product grew by 5%, up from a prior reading of 3.9% and an initial estimate of 3.5%.

The Federal Reserve has said it's watching data closely to determine when to hike interest rates for the first time, so solid economic readings like the GDP data today could raise speculation the central bank will introduce a rate rise next year. Higher interest rates are expected to support the dollar.

Among other data expectde for the day, durable goods orders declined 0.7% in November after increasing a downwardly revised 0.3% (from 0.4%) in October The consensus expected an increase of 2.7%. A large portion of the miss was a result of seasonal adjustments impacting nondefense aircraft orders. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders declined 0.4% while the consensus expected an increase of 1.0%

The October Housing Price Index from the FHFA rose 0.6%, which followed an unchanged reading in September. New home sales in November hit an annualized rate of 438,000, which was down from the revised October rate of 445,000 (from 458,000) and worse than the rate of 460,000 that had been broadly expected by the consensus.

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index was virtually unchanged at 93.6 (from 93.8) in the final December reading while the consensus expected no change. The December sentiment reading marked the highest point since January 2007. Personal income increased 0.4% in November while the consensus expected an increase of 0.5%. Personal spending increased 0.6% in November while the consensus expected an increase of 0.5% Core PCE prices were flat in November while the consensus expected an uptick of 0.1%

The technology sector rallied behind its top components like Google, Intel and Microsoft. The three names gained between 0.6% and 1.2%, but the largest componentApple shed 0.4% and kept the Nasdaq pressured.

Treasuries ended near their lows with the 10-yr yield spiking ten basis points to 2.26%.

Today's participation was below average with fewer than 700 million shares changing hands at the NYSE floor.

There is no economic data on tomorrow's schedule with the session scheduled to end early at 13:00 ET.

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