All three major indexes rose for the month and quarter, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 having their best month since November.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fluctuated between growth and decline during the session, dropped 85.41 points (0.26%) by the close of the market and amounted to 32981.55 points. Standard & Poor's 500 rose by 14.34 points (0.36%) - up to 3972.89 points. During trading, he touched a new session record at 3994.41 points. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 201.48 points (1.54%) and closed at 13,246.87 points.
For the month, the Dow Jones rose 6.6%, adding 7.8% in the first quarter. The S&P 500 gained 4.2% in March and 5.8% in the quarter. The Nasdaq Composite ended the month with 0.4% growth and rose 2.8% for the quarter.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. rose 3.6% on Wednesday after the publication of financial statements. The American Pharmacy Chain increased net income and revenues in FY2021 Q2 and improved its full-year outlook.
PVH Corp. jumped 5.6%. The American company, which owns a number of well-known clothing brands, announced that it expects to make a net profit in the current fiscal year, having recorded a net loss for the previous year.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. fell in price by 3.3%. The Canadian sportswear maker recorded nearly double its direct sales to consumers in the 4th quarter, accounting for about half of the company's total sales.
Illumina Inc. grew by 4.1%. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit to block Illumina's planned $ 7.1 billion acquisition of Grail Inc., which is developing an early-stage cancer test.
Apple Inc. Shares rose 1.9% after UBS analysts raised their target price to $ 142 from $ 115, and also improved their recommendation for the stock to "buy" from "hold".
Market value of Kimberly-Clark Corp. increased by 0.5%. The company announced plans to raise prices in its North American Consumer Products division to counter rising raw material costs.
Capitalization of Delta Air Lines Inc. decreased by 1.3%. From May 1, the American airline will lift the ban on filling medium seats in airplanes, which has been in effect for more than a year.
Investors' attention was focused yesterday on the speech of US President Joe Biden in Pittsburgh, during which he unveiled a $ 2 trillion infrastructure development plan.
The plan includes investments in the development of road infrastructure, broadband communications networks, as well as funding for research and development (R&D). Biden's proposals will require spending of $ 2 trillion over 8 years, which is planned to be covered over 15 years by raising the corporate tax to 28% from 21%, as well as increasing the tax on foreign profits of companies.
This is just the first of two parts of an economic plan that the president hopes to push through Congress in the coming months. The second part of the program will focus on child welfare, health care and education - which Biden intends to unveil in April.
In total, the two parts of the economic plan could cost the US government $ 3 trillion to $ 4 trillion over 10 years, sources said.
The yield on 10-year US Treasuries rose to 1.749% on Wednesday, up from 1.724% the day before. It rose 0.836 percentage points in the first quarter, the highest quarterly growth since December 2016, according to the WSJ.
The index of pending home sales in the US in the secondary market (pending home sales) in February fell from the previous month by 10.6%, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The indicator showed a decline for the second month in a row.
Experts on average predicted a decrease in the indicator by 2.6%. In January, the index fell by a revised 2.4%.
Compared to the same month last year, the index fell 0.5% in February, compared with a revised 13.5% rise in January. The fall in the indicator in annual terms was recorded for the first time since May.
New York Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) Chairman John Williams on Tuesday gave an optimistic assessment of the outlook for the US economy, saying that low interest rates from the Central Bank are helping to restore the economy after the coronavirus pandemic.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company - www.instaforex.com