The main driving force behind the latest strength is the renewed hope that US President Donald Trump’s tax reform will still get on the road to success. However, the Dow was still missing a few points from the record level of around 24,435 points reached a week ago.
The broader S&P 500 was 0.22 percent higher at 2,657.41 meters. The technology stocks index Nasdaq 100 gained 0.66 percent to 6386.33 points.
Overall, however, given the upcoming central bank activity during the week – starting with the Fed rate decision on Wednesday – investors were more cautious. Even if there are critical voices, it is expected on the market that the US central bankers will turn their key interest rate screw next time. In the eyes of Craig Erlam from the trading house Oanda, however, statements about the monetary policy course in the coming year should be the focus.
On the corporate side, stock exchange operators moved into the focus of interest due to the introduction of futures on Bitcoin. The US trading platform CBOE introduced the first futures contract on the digital currency with a lot of attention. As a result, their shares went up almost 1 percent. Competitor CME plans to follow suit next week. Its papers grew a little.
With the so-called futures contracts, raw materials or financial products are traded at a predetermined price at a certain future time. This enables buyers and sellers to protect themselves against price fluctuations. This is actually supposed to make trade quieter. Instead, the future caused a stir on Monday with a jump in price. The CBOE had to temporarily suspend trading.
In the Dow, Walt Disney shares rose by around 1.5 percent. Investors continued to speculate that the entertainment giant could take over large parts of the business from rival 21st Century Fox. Corresponding rumors had already driven the Disney shares a week ago. However, the stocks of 21st Century Fox only gained a little at the beginning of the week.
The conglomerate 3M finally sells its communications network business to the glass specialist Corning. The shares of both companies were recently listed moderately in Plus./la/das
(AWP)
–
