Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday despite weak data out of the United States that showed construction of single-family homes hovered near a two-year low. Additional reports out on Tuesday showed that consumer confidence was declining in March, and that there remain lingering concerns about the labor market. Taken together, the data hinted to a weakening economy in the U.S. Still, worrisome picture painted on Tuesday, Wall Street indexes managed to end higher.
The S&P 500 ended up 0.72 percent, The NASDAQ closed up 0.71 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.55 percent higher. The S&P’s gains came after two days of losses that were prompted by the U.S. Treasury bond yield which inverted late last week. An inverse bond yield has long been considered an indicator for an upcoming recession.
Asian stock indexes were unable to ride Wall Street’s wave higher in the early part of Wednesday’s trading session. As of 9:22 a.m. HK/SIN, both the Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index were unchanged. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.80 percent, and South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.48 percent. The declines in Asia were prompted by fresh concerns about the global economic outlook, a factor that has been pushing markets lower in recent trading sessions.
On the currency markets, the U.S. dollar index was up 0.12 percent to 96.85 .DXY. The greenback eased slightly against the yen, trading down 0.06 percent to 110.55. The euro was unchanged against the dollar, and the pound weakened slightly.