The S&P 500 and Nasdaq climbed to new record highs

Wall Street indexes S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite reached new record highs on Wednesday after the chipmaker rally helped to offset regulatory concerns around the Big Tech group.

The broader index S&P 500 reached its absolute peak of 3,019.56 points, adding nearly half a percentage point, while the technology Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.85% to 8,321.50 points.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.28% to 12.07 a new 3-months low.

However, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session on a red territory with a fall of nearly 0.3% to 27,269.97 points against the disappointing corporate results of Boeing and Caterpillar.

The mixed picture of earnings reports from the S&P companies so far is coinciding with a somewhat technical background in the short term. And while stocks are traded close to their absolute highs, under the surface there are signs that bulls could still take a breath.

Investors on Wall Street keep their focus on the big technology companies such as Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet, which are facing increasing regulatory pressure. Earlier on Wednesday, it became clear that the US Justice Department is opening a sweeping review of antitrust rules whether the big technology companies illegally stifle competition.

At the same time, Facebook agrees to pay a record 5 billion USD for data misuse and will restructure its approach to protecting them.

The investors will continue to focus on Friday's GDP data and next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

In economic data, the US new home sales rebounded in June, the first gain in three months, but US manufacturers expanded in July at the slowest pace in almost 10 years. IHS Markit said its manufacturing PMI slid to 50 this month from 50.6 in June, marking the lowest level since September 2009 just as the current expansion was getting under way.

Manufacturing output contracted in both the first and second quarters of this year, according to the Federal Reserve’s report on industrial production. That was the first back-to-back decline since the soft patch in 2015 and 2016 and one of the factors, along with trade frictions and slowing global economic growth, driving the Federal Reserve to likely lower interest rates next week.

The US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said that a strong dollar signified a strong US economy. "I think the dollar is the reserve currency of the world, [and] it's in our interest to maintain it", added he. This is at odds with previous comments from President Donald Trump, who has called the dollar too strong, saying it was hurting the competitiveness of US goods on the global market.

On the bonds market, yields on 10-year and 30-year US Government Securities fell to 2.046% and 2.576%, respectively.

Corporate stocks performance

Shares of the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing declined by more than 3% after the company reported massive losses for the quarter. They come at a background of rising costs because of the grounding of 737 Max.

Caterpillar's stock also fell by nearly 4.5% due to the weaker-than-expected earnings and revenue figures, as well as the rising costs. The manufacturer is under pressure because of the ongoing US-China trade dispute.

The stocks of UPS and AT&T grew by 8.7% and 3.6%, respectively.

Texas Instruments shares rallied by 7.5% after the chipmaker topped Wall Street estimates for the quarter late Tuesday.

Shares of Snap Inc added 18.75% after the social media giant reported better-than-expected earnings Tuesday evening.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Navient Corp (+10.15%), Edwards Lifesciences Corp (+9.94%) and WW Grainger Inc (+9.07%), while on the flipside were Amphenol Corporation (-6.08%), Norfolk Southern Corporation (-5.94%) and FLIR Systems Inc (-4.86%).

Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://financeandmarkets.com/the-sp-500-and-nasdaq-climbed-to-new-record-highs/