US Market hits new highs

The US stock market finished session at fresh record high on Thursday, 19 December 2019, as investor sentiment got a boot after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said an initial U.S.-China trade deal would be signed in early January. The market shrugged off the news of the US President's impeachment amid some mixed economic data and maintained their focus on the economy and corporate earnings. Shares in the real estate, technology and consumer staples sectors led rally. Energy and utilities were the lone sectors in the red. At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average grew 137.68 points, 0.5%, to 28,376.96, while the S&P 500 rose 14.23 points, or 0.45%, to 3,205.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 59.48 points, or 0.67%, to 8.887.22.

The major stock indexes climbed to record highs as investors welcomed news that the U.S. and China had taken steps to de-escalate their trade conflict.

Investors have been undeterred by House Democrats' impeachment of Mr Trump. The Republican-controlled Senate is poised to clear the president on allegations stemming from a phone call with Ukraine's president.

On the economic data front, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's business conditions index dropped to 0.3 in December from a reading of 10.4 in the previous month, with zero serving as the demarcation point between contraction and expansion.

Elsewhere, weekly jobless claims fell to 234,000 from 252,000, according to the Department of Labor.

Lastly, US existing home sales tumbled by 1.7% to an annual rate of 5.35 million in November after jumping by 1.5% to a revised 5.44 million in October, a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday showed. Despite the much bigger than expected monthly decrease, existing home sales in November were still up by 2.7% compared to the same month a year ago.

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