(MENAFN– ecpulse)
Wall Street closed in mixed territories regardless of a permanent cease-fire agreement between Ukraine and pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine as a result of losses in Apple Inc. after a competitor introduced new smartphones and the company faced criticism.
However today the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book was released and showed the U.S. economy gaining momentum in all regions in July and August.
In fact survey showed economic activity expanded in all twelve districts for the second straight time.
All 12 of the Fed`s regions reported growth. New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas and San Francisco characterized their growth as "moderate." The other districts reported somewhat slower expansion.
Now early version of an agreement between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin had reportedly been struck on Wednesday.
Even with terms on the cease-fire unclear yet, global equities found heart in hopes of an agreement.
The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.8% and the German DAX added 1.35%. Asian shares ended mostly higher, boosted by positive data from China. The HSBC China services purchasing managers index for August climbed to a 17-month higher.
-The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.06% or 10.72 points 17078.28
-The S&P 500 Index shed 0.08% or 1.56 points to 2000.72
-The NASDAQ Composite Index fell 0.56% or 25.62 points to 4572.57 . As of 16:16 p.m. ET
The U.S. dollar was down for the session after earlier hitting the highest in over a year. 10-year Treasury yields climbed 1.6 basis points to 2.437%.
Data on factory orders showed a 10.5% increase in July, roughly in line with forecasts by Bloomberg at 11%.
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