· The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 55.67 points, or 0.25 percent, to end at 21,948.1, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 14.06 points, or 0.57 percent, to 2,471.65 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 60.35 points, or 0.95 percent, to 6,428.66.
For the month, the S&P edged up 0.05 percent while the Dow gained 0.28 percent and Nasdaq rose 1.27 percent.
U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday as investors reacted to economic data and took cautious hope from Washington’s latest promises for long-awaited details of a tax reform plan.
· U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s administration has a detailed plan on tax reform and is on track to implement it by year-end. On Wednesday Trump reiterated his call for a U.S. corporate tax rate cut to 15 percent from 35 percent.
· “Even if investors aren’t taking him at his word they expect him to do all he can. This is a market that has heard tax reform so often. It wants to see if they can deliver,” Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, NJ.
· Asia markets were subdued in early Friday trade as investors awaited the release of manufacturing activity data from China. Traders also digested the slide in the dollar on the back of U.S. data releases overnight.
· Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.29 percent in early trade. Across the Korean strait, the Kospi edged up 0.05 percent.
· Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia markets are closed for a public holiday.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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