Morning Report 21 Aug 20: US sharemarkets lifted on Thursday

Shares fell early in the trading session on disappointing US economic data. But a rally in tech giants Apple (+2.2%), Tesla (+6.6%), Microsoft (+2.3%) and Amazon (+1.1%) boosted indexes. Intel (+1.7%) shares rose after announcing a US$10 billion share buyback plan. Shares of Zoom Video Communications (+6.3%) gained after Morgan Stanley lifted its price target. Uber (+6.8%) and Lyft (+5.8%) shares rose after they were spared from having to rapidly convert their California drivers to employees. And China confirmed trade talks with the US. The Dow Jones index rose by 46 points or 0.2%. The S&P500 index lifted 0.3%. And the Nasdaq index gained 118 points or 1.1% to a record closing high.   

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