US equity markets rallied and closed near their session highs - Dow up +175-points or 0.70% The broader S&P500 +0.68%, underpinned by a fresh rally for the technology sector. General Electric Co. (up +0.20%) said late Monday it has set a record date of 14 February for the spin-off of Transportation Systems Holdings Inc., or SpinCo, which will hold a portion of GE Transportation, a business unit of GE. The NASDAQ gained +1.13% (to 7,347.536), with Facebook Inc (up +2.14%), Apple Inc (+2.84%), Netflix Inc (+3.38%) and Google-parent Alphabet Inc (+2%) all closing at least 2% higher. The technology-centric index now sits ~18.2% above its Christmas Eve nadir and is on the cusp of climbing out of bear market territory (specifically, a close at or above 7,431.50 for the Nasdaq would mark a rise of 20% from its recent low President Trump is set to deliver his State of the Union address tonight AEDT and is expected to discuss legislative priorities for this year and possibly the second half of his term. The speech was initially scheduled for January 29 but was delayed as a result of an impasse that shut down the US government for 35 days.
