New York May 17 (IANS) The Nasdaq closed at record high on Tuesday as Wall Street mainly digested Home Depot s better-than-expected quarterly results and newly-released economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 2.19 points or 0.01 per cent to 20 979.75. The S&P 500 lost 1.65 points or 0.07 per cent to 2 400.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 20.20 points or 0.33 per cent to 6 169.87.
Before Tuesday s opening bell Home Depot the world s largest home improvement retailer reported sales of $23.9 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 a 4.9 per cent increase from the first quarter of fiscal 2016.
Net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 were $2.0 billion or 1.67 dollars per diluted share compared with net earnings of 1.8 billion dollars or 1.44 dollars per diluted share in the same period of fiscal 2016.
This earnings season has been strong so far. The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies blended earnings in the first quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 14.7 per cent year on year while the revenues are forecast to increase 7.2 per cent.
On the economic front U.S. industrial production advanced one percent in April the largest monthly gain since February 2014 and topping market estimates the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.
US privately-owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1 172 000 well below market expectation according to U.S. Census Bureau Tuesday. This is 2.6 per cent below the revised March estimate of 1 203 000 but is 0.7 per cent above the April 2016 rate of 1 164 000.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs on Monday as Wall Street cheered over soaring oil prices.
--IANS
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Nasdaq closes at record high amid earnings, data
