US benchmarks mixed; Dow Jones up; Nasdaq down
FTSE 100 closes over 38 pts higher
Brexit woes continue in UK as Northern Ireland issue in focus
FAANG stocks lag
Wall Street shares were mixed at the close, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 in the red.
Earlier major indexes the Dow and the S&P 500 had hit intraday highs, as investor sentiment was buoyed by the passage of the tax overhaul.
The Nasdaq closed over 72 points lower to 6,775 as tech heavyweights weighed on the day
The broad based S&P 500 was off 2.78 at 2,639 at the close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index did close higher though, up 58 points at 24,290.
In Toronto, the TSX closed down just shy of 70 points lower at 15,969.
MID-SESSION
US stocks were mixed at mid-session as the shine came off the earlier rally.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index added over 200 points at 24,432, while the S&P 500 gained over 13 points at 2,655.
The tech heavy Nasdaq shed over 15 points to stand at 6,832 as the tech FAANG stocks (including Facebook, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon) weighed.
In the oil market, US crude shed 1.15% to stand at US$57.69 A barrel.
Among the notable movers, Astrotech Corp (NASDAQ:ASTC) shares zoomed up over 52% to US$4.19 as the firm reported that it has completed its successful 1st Detect demo with Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration personnel.
Meanwhile, Pyxis Tankers Inc (NASDAQ:PXS) shares surged over 135% to US$9.71 after it climbed over 100% too on Friday.
In Canada, the TSX is down 20 points at 16,018.
Tech stocks can go down? Who knew? I thought there was some law that the #FAANG could only go in one direction!
— David Baskin (@DavidBaskinBWM) November 29, 2017
Maxim Group, the investment group, downgraded the company to 'hold' from 'buy'.
READ THE LONDON CLOSE - FTSE 100 closes higher; miners lag and Brexit wranglings continue
OPEN
US stocks tore out of the box, as expected, after President Donald Trump's tax bill got the go-ahead from the US senate on Saturday.
As we have now become rather accustomed to, there were new records broken with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 hitting new records
At the time of writing, the Dow Jones was up 287 points at 24,518, while the S&P 500 was up over 18 points.
Going the other way though was the tech heavy Nasdaq, which shed 3.74 points at 6,843.
In oil, the price of crude was down 1.10% to US$57.69 a barrel.
At the weekend, the Senate's version of the highly anticipated sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code, passed through.
It had been widely but not fully expected to happen.
Early Saturday, the Senate passed the Republican tax reform proposal. It is seen as a key victory for relatively new US president Donald Trump.
Among the notable stock risers was department store Macy's Inc (NYSE:M), which added over 6.41% to stand at US$25.74 each.
It is a key period for the retailer and on Friday it revealed it would hire a further 7,000 temporary workers in expectation of demand through Christmas.
Analysts said this holiday season could make or break the company. which has reported several quarters of falling sales as it tries to combat online rivals such as Amazon.com.