US stocks climb ahead of Yellen’s Jackson Hole speech

On the last trading day of the week, major US equity indices witnessed a positive opening as investors cheered the news that the US President Donald Trump will launch a major push on tax reform next week. 

The Director of the National Economic Council, Gary Cohn, told Financial Times that Trump was focused on getting tax reform done by the end of this year, which had been one of the pillars supporting the record setting rally in the markets. 

   •  Gary Cohn: Trump to make a major speech next week on tax reform - FT

Meanwhile, the market had a muted reaction to a sharp drop of 6.8% in durable goods orders, which to some extent got negated by a modest rise in orders excluding transportation items. 

During the opening hour of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up around 75-points to 21,857, while the broader S&P 500 Index added nearly 9-points and rose to 2,448. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed over 15-points to 6,287.

Investors focus on Friday would remain glued to the Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium, due in a short while from now.

   •  Yellen is likely to address a number of themes - Nomura