Just when trade war fears looked like they were creeping back into the U.S. capital markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 turned the other cheek and continued their forward momentum, reaching record levels as the extended bull market continues its historical run. The Dow was up over 200 points, hitting a mark not seen since January and the S&P rose past a previous record of 2,925.
The stock leaderboard spanned various industries as market movers for the Dow included names like DowDupont Inc (DWDP), Intel Corp (INTC) and Caterpillar (CAT). The S&P was led by Under Armour Inc, Micron Technology and Autodesk.
The stock market was able to shrug off any jitters caused by the tit-for-tat trade war between the U.S. and China. Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump commenced with a 10% tariff imposition on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, which prompted a response from China less than 24 hours later with $60 billion worth of tariffs on U.S. goods beginning on Sept. 24.
President Trump was quick to take to social media to congratulate the markets on the record-setting achievements.
S&P 500 HITS ALL-TIME HIGH Congratulations USA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2018
The Nasdaq Composite also gained over 60 points with help from names, such as NetEase and Skyworks Solutions Inc. The Nasdaq got a much-needed rally as it has been down over 1% for the month of September.
Related: Treasury Yields Rise Amid U.S.-China Tariff Tennis Match
“I’m not at all surprised investors are taking the latest tariffs and the more muted response from China as a positive,” said Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones. She noted that trade news have been both a positive and negative catalyst for stocks this year. Hence, a more muted escalation to the trade conflict is seen as a net positive. “But I don’t think the worries about trade are completely over, especially if the U.S. tariffs on China increase to 25 percent.”
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