All three benchmark US equity indices notched fresh all-time intraday and closing highs - Dow up +212-points or +0.74% (at 28,956.90) and closing within 4-points of 29,000. Goldman Sachs Inc Group Inc climbed +2.1% after Bank of America upgraded the investment bank to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’, citing an attractive valuation and the benefits of a possible global economic rebound. The broader S&P500 +0.67%, with Information Technology (up +1.13%) leading all eleven primary sectors higher. However, Kohls Corp fell -6.54% after the department store operator issued earnings guidance to the low end of their fiscal 2019 forecast. The NASDAQ +0.80%. Apple Inc rose to +2.1% to log their third record high (US$310.43) of the year following a Barron’s report based calculations of data published by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology that recorded that the company shipped a larger-than-expected 3.2M iPhones in China in December. Advanced Micro Devices Inc rose +2.38%, with the chipmaker buoyed by an upgrade from Mizuho Securities which cited a potentially stronger server market in 2020.
