US CLOSE 12 SEP 18: US STOCKS MOVE HIGHER - ENERGY & TECH NAMES ADVANCE

US sharemarkets were firmer on Tuesday. Shares in Apple rose by 2.5% ahead of Wednesday's announcement of new products. The energy sector was supported by higher oil prices. The Dow Jones index rose by 114 points or 0.4%. The S&P 500 index rose by 0.4% and the Nasdaq gained over 48 points or 0.6%

In US economic data the NFIB business optimism index rose from 107.9 to 108.8 in August (forecast 108.2). The number of job openings in July rose from 6.822 million to 6.939m according to the JOLTS survey (forecast 6.68m). Wholesale inventories rose by 0.6% in July (forecast +0.7%). And chain store sales in the latest week were up 6.3% on a year ago, down from the 6.5% annual gain in the prior week.

 

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