Investing.com – U.S. equities closed modestly higher on Monday, as investors waited for a key speech from President Donald Trump.
President Trump’s promises on tax reform, deregulation and infrastructure spending have been major catalysts in the so-called ‘Trump rally’, which has seen U.S. equities climb as much as 10% since Trump’s election victory.
President Trump is set to address Congress on Tuesday, as investors eagerly await clues about the administration’s plans for tax reform and deregulation.
U.S. equities raced to a higher close, despite the release of mixed U.S. economic data, after U.S, pending home sales missed expectations while durable goods orders for January were better than expected.
The National Association of Realtors said pending home sales were down 2.8%, which missed analysts’ expectation of a 0.8% rise in January while the Commerce Department said that orders for durable goods rose 1.8% in January against expectations of 1.7% increase.
Elsewhere, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan reiterated his view that the rate hike should be sooner rather than later, which reinvigorated traders' hopes of a march rate hike.
In corporate earnings news., Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares closed more than 4% lower at $246.23, after Goldman Sachs downgraded Tesla to a sell, following a disappointing fourth-quarter earnings report from the electric car manufacturer.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 15 points at 20,837. The S&P 500 gained 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite ticked higher to close at 5861.90 up 0.28%.
The top S&P 500 gainers included Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) up 4.3%, and Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) up 3.5%, while National Oilwell Varco Inc (NYSE:NOV) added 3.5%.
The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) down 6.6%, Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) down 5.8% and NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) slumped 4%, were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.