For what reason are stock indices growing?
U.S. stock indices rose at the close of trading on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 showing the highest growth in its history for the day after the U.S. presidential election, The Wall Street Journal writes.
At the close of trading, vote counting was still ongoing in several key states, including Pennsylvania. US President Donald Trump said: "I am confident that I will win this election in Pennsylvania".
Trump also demanded that the votes be counted in Wisconsin and filed a lawsuit in Michigan for a time to stop counting the votes so that it could only be resumed in the presence of the President's team.
At the close of the bidding, interim election results indicated a high probability that the Republican majority in the Senate would be maintained.
Meanwhile, the United States Department of Commerce reported on Wednesday that the country's foreign trade deficit in September fell by 3.6% to $63.9 billion compared to the revised August figure of $67 billion. Experts interviewed by Trading Economics, on average, expected the U.S. foreign trade deficit to fall to $63.8 billion from the previously announced $67.1 billion in August.
The U.S. Service Business Activity Index (ISM Non-Manufacturing) fell to 56.6 points in October from 57.8 points in September, according to data from the Supply Management Institute (ISM). Analysts interviewed by Trading Economics on average expected the index to fall to 57.5 points. An index value above 50 points indicates an increase in business activity in the service sector, while a lower value indicates a weakening.
In addition, investors are waiting for the outcome of a two-day meeting of the United States Federal Reserve Board (FED) to be announced on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index rose 367.63 points (1.34%) to 27847.66 points.
Standard Poor's 500 rose 74.28 points (2.2%) to 3443.44 points.
Nasdaq Composite added 430.21 points (3.85%) to 11590.78 points.
Quotations of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). increased by 8.3%, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). 4.1%, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc. by 6.1%. Shares of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN). increased by 6.3%, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT). by 4.8%.
Meanwhile, the securities of American banks became cheaper against the backdrop of lower yields of US Treasuries.