Business and Economy
Dow Jones posts 7th straight record high amid earnings, data
NEW YORK, Aug. 4 — US stocks closed mixed on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its seventh straight record close, as investors digested a batch of corporate earnings report and economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 9.86 points, or 0.04 percent, to 22,026.10. The S&P 500 shed 5.41 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,472.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 22.30 points, or 0.35 percent, to 6,340.34.
The Dow has risen over 11 percent and recorded three 1,000-points milestones in 2017. The benchmark climbed above 22,000 on Wednesday, lifted by strong earnings from Apple.
In corporate news, shares of Tesla rallied 6.51 percent on Thursday, after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies’ blended earnings in the second quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 11.8 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 5.0 percent.
Meanwhile, investors also turned their eyes to a slew of economic data, as they tried to find clues on when the Federal Reserve might start the balance sheet reduction.
In the week ending July 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 240,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the US Labor Department Thursday.
The US non-manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace in July, while businesses surveyed remained optimistic about their business conditions.
The Non-Manufacturing Index, which measures activity in the US service sector, registered 53.9 in July, down 3.5 points from June’s reading of 57.4, the Institute for Supply Management said in its monthly survey on Thursday.
