A history-making day on Wall Street as the better than expected quarterly results from Apple saw The Dow Jones Industrial Average close above the 22,000 point level for the first time on its sixth straight record closing on Wednesday.
The Dow pushed above the 22,000 level briefly in early trading, retreated and nudged the threshold several times before moving through it in late trading and closing at 22,016.24, up 52 points.
The index rose 0.2% on the day to 22,016.24, lifted in part by a near 5% gain in Apple shares which saw the tech giant’s market value end at a massive $US819 billion.
But the bullishness didn’t extend far from the 30 stock Dow – the Nasdaq Composite was flat at 6,362.65 and the S&P 500 gained less than 0.1%, pressured by weak telecommunication and energy stocks. Shares in the S&P 500 telecoms sector fell more than 1% giving up some of the 8% surge seen in July.
Energy shares were also lower after US government data showed a smaller than expected drop in crude stockpiles last week, spurring volatility in oil prices. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate initially dropped to a low of $US48.60 a barrel after the data release, but recovered to $US49.52 — up 36 cents.
Comex gold settled down a dollar $US1,278, but fell to $US1,272 an ounce in early Asian trading this morning.
The dollar index, which measure the dollar against a basket of its peers also had a choppy day. The index fell as much as half a per cent to a two-year low, following remarks from the Federal Reserve’s Loretta Mester in favour of gradually tightening US policy given weak inflation readings.
The index was just 0.15 per cent lower at 92.89 at markets close, while the euro briefly reached the $US1.19 level before easing to end at $US1.1855.
The Aussie dollar ended at 79.65 US cents, but didn’t pass the 80 US cent mark.
The overnight futures market for the ASX 200 was up around 12 points, pointing to a modest start to trading today.
Iron ore prices retreated for a second day, dropping under $US73 a tonne to finish at: $72.30 per tonne, down by $US1.26 per tonne.
