NEW YORK (Reuters) - The three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Monday as investors applauded a strong U.S. earnings season with results from Berkshire Hathaway impressing and Facebook lifting Nasdaq after a report it was planning new services.
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S., July 31, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
The S&P edged closer to a record hit on Jan. 26, closing within a percentage point of the all-time high for the first time since the current correction began.
Investors were focused on robust corporate earnings and shrugged off worries about U.S. tensions with countries including China and Iran.
“The earnings news has been powerful and it’s allowed investors to focus on what’s most important but with earnings winding down then investors tend to react to the latest shiny object or geopolitical news headline,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Wealth Advisors in Chicago.
For example Ablin said U.S. President Donald Trump’s stand-off with Iran could put pressure on stocks.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani dismissed a U.S. call for talks on Monday, hours before Washington was due to impose new sanctions following Trump’s decision to pull out of a 2015 agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.
Also Kristina Hooper, global market strategist at Invesco in New York, said there were some signs China is “hunkering down and getting ready for a significant trade war” and that the impact “could be more far-reaching than previously assumed.”
Chinese state media on Monday lambasted U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies in an unusually personal attack, and sought to reassure investors anxious about China’s economy as growth concerns battered its financial markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.6
