Fresh record closing highs for the benchmark US equity indices to cap another strong week ahead of the holiday long weekend, with fiscal stimulus and inflation the key broader themes - Dow added +28-points or +0.09% to 31,458.40. The Walt Disney Co erased earlier gains to close -1.7% lower despite announcing after the close of last Thursday’s (11 February) session that that its streaming platform, Disney+, surpassed 94.9M subscribers as part of its fourth quarter earnings release. Disney+ exceeded the company’s initial subscriber goal of 60M to 90M by 2024 back in November, forcing it to reforecast. The company now expects Disney+ will have 230M to 260M subscribers by 2024. The broader S&P500 rose +0.47% to 3,934.83, with Energy (up +1.40%), Materials (+1.02%) and Financials (+0.95%) logging gains of +0.9%+ and leading nine of the eleven primary sectors higher. Utilities (down 0.79%) and Real Estate (-0.06%) were the only primary sectors to close in the red. PayPal Holdings Inc rose +4.7% after several analysts raised their price targets following the payments company’s investor day last Thursday (11 February). The Nasdaq gained +0.50% to 14,095.47 The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index edged +0.18% higher. For the week, the Dow gained +1.0%, S&P500 +1.23% Nasdaq +1.73% US equity and bond markets are CLOSED tonight AEST for the Presidents Day holiday.
