Wall Street rose solidly on Wednesday in a shortened pre-Independence Day session, with each of the major indexes ending at a record high.
This was after data releases provided more evidence that the US economy continues to slow which in turn renewed a belief the Fed will soon start cutting rates.
The Dow rose 179.32 points, or 0.67%, to 26,966, the S&P 500 added 22.79 points, or 0.77%, to 2,995.8 and the Nasdaq put on 61.14 points, or 0.75%, to finish 8,170.23.
In another signal, the yield on 10 year US Treasury bonds continued to dip under 2% (a signal the market believes there is a slowdown ahead) and closed at 1.939%, the lowest it had been for more than two and a half year.
Wednesday showed the US trade deficit jumped to a five-month high in May while services sector data showed a slowdown in activity.
The reports come on the back of data on housing, manufacturing, business investment and consumer spending that point to slowing economic growth in the quarter.
Overnight Friday the next test for the economy and sentiment – the US jobs and unemployment data for June.
A repeat of May’s weak 75,000 job report will confirm that the next rate move will be down from the Fed, and quickly.
A solid report around market forecasts of 160,000 new jobs will see the markets relax their rate cut now momentum.
The Atlanta Fed on Wednesday trimmed its second-quarter GDP growth view to 1.3% on an annual, down from 1.5% on Monday.
Comex gold was up $US14 to $US1,422 an ounce while West Texas Intermediate oil futures added 2% to $US57.39 at the end of the shortened session.
