dow jones
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index finished the last trading day of 2019 with modest gains as it closed 76.3 points or 0.27% higher at 28,538.4. Meanwhile, Dow Jones CFDs staged a strong rally after bottoming out at 28,365.0. By the end of the New York session, it had settled at 28,574.5.
Out of the thirty stocks tracked by the Dow Jones, 25 of them finished in the green. Gains were led by IBM with a 0.93% profit. In second what Apple with a 0.73% gain. Meanwhile, Dow Chemical came in third with a 0.72% uptick.
On the other hand, the only losers were: Wal-mart (-0.47%), Boeing (-0.20%), American Express (-0.19%), Merck (-0.09%), and United Technologies (-0.08%).
It would seem that there was still some fuel left to the Santa Claus rally on the Dow Jones. Risk appetite was mainly fueled by optimism on the US-China Phase One Deal. There are reports saying that the two countries could sign a deal by January 15. After which, negotiations for a Phase Two Deal would soon commence.
Not even worse-than-expected consumer confidence data weighed down the Dow. The Conference Board reported that Consumer Confidence for December was at 126.5, lower than the market’s expected 128.0 reading.
For today, a few reports are due from the US. At 12:30 pm GMT, the Challenger Job Cuts report will be released. It will then be followed by the unemployment claims report at 1:30 pm GMT which is estimated at 222,000. Then at 2:45 pm GMT, the final manufacturing report for December is eyed to print at 52.5.
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Looking at the daily chart of Dow Jones CFDs, we can see that the stock index still has some room to move lower and still maintain its uptrend. Connecting the higher lows of October 2, October 9, and December 3, we can see that support at the rising trend line is somewhere around 28,190. This price coincides with the Dow’s previous highs which it hit in the last trading week of November. On top of that, the trend line also seems to coincide with the 38.2% Fib level when you draw from the swing low of December 3. If sellers dominate this week’s trading, we could see the Dow fall and test the confluence of support at this price.
On the other hand, if equity investors feel bullish for the stock index for the first trading day of the year, we could see the stock index rally to new record highs above 28,731.5.