Fresh record highs across the board for the benchmark US indices open the new quarter following some strong economic data and growing expectations that President Trump will deliver on his tax reform package - Dow up +153-points or +0.68% (with Goldman Sachs up +1.5% and General Electric +1.6% among the biggest contributors to the indice's gains). The broader S&P500 +0.39% (with health care and financials the leading sectors). The NASDAQ +0.32% despite technology heavyweights Facebook, Netflix and Alphabet all closing lower. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 index outperformed with a +1.3% gain. Sadly it was also a record day for
In US economic data, factory orders surged to a more than 13-year high in September. The Institute of Supply Management's (ISM) manufacturing index surged to a reading of 60.8 last month, the highest reading since May 2004. More Federal Reserve speakers overnight, with Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari - a known dove - said his preference "would be not to raise rates again until we actually hit 2% core PCE inflation on a 12-month basis, unless we have seen a large drop in the headline unemployment rate signalling that we have used up remaining labor market slack, or a surprise increase in inflation expectations."
