Wall Street struggles to set clear direction
- Trump helps USD recover losses.
- Financials lose traction on stronger greenback.
- Healthcare outperforms rival sectors.
For the third straight session, major equity indexes in the U.S. failed to paint a clear picture of market sentiment.
Following the U.S. President Donald Trump's "dollar will get stronger and stronger" comment on CNBC, the US Dollar Index erased all of its daily gains to turn positive on the day above the 89 mark, weighing on the USD-sensitive S&P 500 Financials Sector (SPSY), which pared its gains to close the day 0.2% lower.
After drugmaker Biogen's fourth-quarter revenues beat experts' estimates, the company's shares gained nearly 2%, assisting the S&P 500 Health Care Sector (SPXHC) to become the best performing sub-index of the day with a daily increase of nearly 1%.
On the other hand, ahead of Intel's fourth quarter earnings results, the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector (SPLRCT) closed the day with 0.25%. However, with Intel's both the EPS: ($1.08 vs. estimate $0.86), and revenue ($17.05B vs. estimate $16.30B) beating expectations according to the report released after the closing bell, the index could make a recovery and help the Nasdaq close the week on a positive note.
At the end of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 140.67 points, or 0.54%, at 26,392.79, the S&P 500 added 1.71 points, or 0.06%, at 2,839.25 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 3.90 points, or 0.05%, at 7,411.16.