Fresh record highs for the benchmark US equity indices following a muted trading session as investors braced for a wave of second quarter corporate earnings releases - Dow up +27-points or +0.10% to a fresh record closing high of 27,359.16. J.P. Morgan Chase and Co (down -1.21%) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (-1.10%) were the biggest drags on the index ahead of their results tonight AEST. Boeing Company fell -1.02% after some Federal Aviation Administration officials and pilot-union leaders suggested the company's 737 MAX planes are unlikely to be ready to carry passengers again until 2020. The broader S&P500 eked out a +0.02% rise (to 3,014.30) to log its fifth consecutive session gain, with ~13% of index constituents trading at 52-week highs. The technology-centric NASDAQ rose +0.16% (to 8,258.19). Symantec Corporation slumped -10.68% after CNBC reported that it has ceased negotiations to acquire Broadcom Inc (up +1.03%). Elsewhere in corporate news, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA rose +1.86% after the seller of Budweiser called off what would have been the largest initial public offering (IPO) of the year, saying it wouldn’t proceed with the near US$10B listing of its Asian business. Charles Schwab Corp (up +0.25%) is reportedly in talks to buy the brokerage and wealth-management operations from USAA for ~US$2B according to the Wall Street Journal. All three benchmark indices also set fresh record intra-day highs.
