Wednesday began on Wall Street with a cautious upward trend, as the S&P 500 index, the Dow Jones index, and the Nasdaq technology index all rose by 0.1 percent. The S&P 500 index had closed the previous trading day at a record high of over 5,500 points, with a p/e ratio of about 25.8 based on the last 12 months’ numbers. This valuation is significantly high compared to historical levels.
On a rainy Wednesday, economic data from the US presented interesting insights for investors. There were 238,000 new claims for unemployment benefits in the US the previous week, slightly above the forecast of 235,000. Despite this, there was good news in terms of trade balance as it came in better than expected at -76.5 billion dollars instead of -75.1 billion dollars forecasted earlier. Additionally, despite missing its forecast by only 14,999 jobs, there were still 156,999 new private sector jobs created in June.
Later in the day, more economic data from the US will be released including durable goods orders and factory order volumes. Despite these reports being closely watched by investors for further insights into the state of the US economy, there was cautious optimism on Wall Street following Tesla’s impressive performance during trading hours on Tuesday when it exceeded analysts’ sales forecasts resulting in an over 10 percent increase in its share price.
