Wall Street ends up; Dow Jones up 150pts
US consumer confidence higher
Darden Restaurants biggest gainer on S&P500
Trump's Mexico border plans to be presented tomorrow
Wall Street shares closed higher with the Dow Jones ending 150 points higher to end an eight day run of finishing lower.
The benchmark Dow close out the afternoon session at 20,701, while the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite Index added over 34 pts at 5,875.
The S&P500 closed up 16.98 points at 2,358.
The market was buoyed by economic data along with optimism that President Trump's economic policies will come to fruition, despite the downturn seen from the healthcare bill debacle.
A read on consumer confidence for March, showed the figure had risen to the highest level in more than 16 years.
Also, house prices stateside went to their highest in nearly three years, according to official stats.
In the last few hours, Trump has reportedly signed an executive order overhauling Obama rules aimed at tackling global warming.
The order is aimed at boosting US energy production via fossil fuels.
In companies today, among the risers were banks, which had suffered during the Trump concerns but today rallied under the new optimism.
Wells Fargo Co (NYSE:WFC) rose 0.99% to $55.96, while Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) gained 1.74% at $229.33.
Citigroup (NYSE:C) added 1.84% to $59.42.
Elsewhere, Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) added almost 20% to $11.30 as it emerged its chief executive and major shareholder had bought shares.
Last week the firm said in its annual report that there was “substantial doubt” about its ability to remain a going concern.
In Canada, the TSX added 92.35 to 15, 598.57
It's a big week for the macro picture as UK Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger Article 50 tomorrow Wednesday, while plans over the US president's 2,000-mile border wall between the US and Mexico are also due tomorrow.
MID-SESSION
US shares were advancing strongly in mid-afternoon trade as investors were buoyed by consumer confidence data.
At the time of writing, the Dow Jones is up 171 points; the S&P500 index is over 20 higher and the tech heavy Nasdaq exchange is 44 points to the good at 5,884.
The price of US crude- West Texas Intermediate, is also forging higher, at $48.41 a barrel - up 1.42%.
The consumer confidence index rose to 125.6 against a forecast level of 114 - the highest since December 2000 as traders become increasingly optimistic about the direction of travel for the US economy.
President Trump has made some pro-growth pledges during the campaign and the market is waiting to see if that is borne out by reality.
In terms of movers, Catalyst Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: CBIO) was a runaway winner on Nasdaq with shares surging over 196% percent to $15.90 after the company reported IND approval in South Korea for next-gen subcutaneous Factor IX program.
London and US listed Akers Biosciences Inc (NYSE:AKER) added around 72% after it told investors it had received a received a first for its rapid cholesterol self-test from First Check Diagnostics, LLC.
Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) added 8.75% to $82.19 on S&P500 after the chain reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter and raised its FY 2017 guidance. The company also announced plans to acquire Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen for $780 million
Electric car giant Tesla Inc (NYSE:TSLA) added 2.74% to $277.64 after the Chinese investment concern Tencent Holdings Ltd took a 5% stake
On the down side, shares in rig contractor Ocean RIG UDW Inc (NYSE: ORIG) sank almost 70% to stand at $0.22 as the downturn in the oil sector took its toll on the group.
It has reportedly filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in a US court.
OPEN
US shares opened on Wall Street higher as investor optimism appeared to return after a volatile few days.
The benchmark Dow Jones gained 34 to 29.586, while the t6ech heavy Nasdaq added 3.46 to stand at 2,345.
The broader based S&P 500 is up over four points to stand at 5,844.
It comes as US consumer confidence was shown to have risen in March to the highest level in more than 16 years, according to a report.
The confidence index rose to 125.6 against a forecast figure of 114 - the highest since December 2000.
In equities, the biggest gainer on S&P500 was Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) the owner of Olive Garden, which said it was going to buy Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen for $780 million in an all-cash deal. It also posted results which cheered the market.
Shares of Red Hat (NYSE:RHI) climbed almost 6% to $87.12 as it also rerported strong earnings for its fourth quarter.
Revenue of $629 million beat an analyst's estimate of $619 million while the company's EPS of $0.61 matched estimates.
Big cap miner Newmont (NYSE:NEM) was the biggest loser, easing over 2% to stand at $33.22.
PREVIEW
US shares are poised to open calmer on Tuesday after a volatile session on Monday sparked by President Trump and his failed healthcare bill.
Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Index closed down 45 points at 20,550 while the S&P500 finished down 2.39 at 2,341.
But the tech heavy Nasdaq exchange closed over 11 points higher at 5,840.
Futures trading has a similar pattern today with the Dow down five points; the S &P500 around flat and the futures for the Nasdaq up over 5.
Elon Musk, the Silicon valley entrepreneur and founder of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), is back in the limelight today.
Now, his latest venture wants to connect human brains with computers.
The new company is called Neuralink and reportedly aims to connect computers directly to human brains in a world which the company director says will become increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence (AI).
In London at the time of writing FTSE 100 is keeping its head above water having lost over 40 points yesterday at 7,296. as Theresa May prepares to initiate Article 50 to Brexit.
The German DAX is up around half a percent while the price of US crude is up 0.89% to $48.11.
Also in the news is Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which revealed it was buying Souq, the Arab world's biggest online retailer.
Souq was recently valued above $1 billion, according to one report. Amazon shares added 0.12% to $847.84 in pre-market deals.
Also climbing higher is Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) and Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI), which were surging in extended trading as investors cheered their latest quarterly results.
Darden also said today it was buying Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen for $780 million in cash.
American Airlines (NYSE: AAL) shares added 1.34% to $42.30 as it told investors it was moving into China's airspace with the purchase of a $200 million stake in a top Chinese carrier.