The main US stock indexes completed the session in a positive territory

Major US stock indexes finished trading in positive territory, as the rise in price of shares in the technology sector and the utilities sector compensated for the losses in the shares of the base materials sector.

A certain influence on the dynamics of trading was also provided by the US data. The Ministry of Labor reported that US producer prices rose in January, which was the last indicator of an increase in inflationary pressures in the economy. The producer price index, a measure of prices charged by companies for their goods and services, increased by 0.4% in seasonally adjusted terms in January, compared with a month earlier. This was in line with the expectations of economists. In annual terms, producer prices rose by 2.7%. Producer prices were unchanged in December, showed revised data. Until this month, prices have been growing steadily in the second half of 2017. With the exception of food and energy categories, prices rose 0.4% in January. With the exception of the unstable category of trade services, prices also increased by 0.4%, which is the highest growth since April 2017. The growth was expected to be 0.2% for both major measures. A separate report from the Ministry of Labor. showed that the number of Americans applying for new unemployment benefits rose last week, but remained close to historical lows. Initial applications for unemployment benefits, an indicator of layoffs across the United States, increased by 7,000 to 230,000 for the week ending February 10. This was in line with the expectations of economists. Weekly applications for unemployment benefits were held below 300,000 for almost three years, the longest period since 1970, when the US population was much smaller than today. Data on applications for unemployment benefits can be unstable from week to week. The four-week moving average, a more stable measure, increased by 3,500 to 228,500 last week. The number of repeated applications for unemployment benefits increased by 15,000 to 1,942,000 in the week to February 3.

Most components of the DOW index finished trading in positive territory (26 out of 30). Leader of the growth were shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO, + 4.73%). Outsider were shares UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH, -1.33%).

Almost all sectors of S & P recorded a rise. The utilities sector grew most (+ 1.7%). Decrease showed only the sector of basic materials (-0.1%).

At closing:

Dow + 1.23% 25,200.37 +306.88

Nasdaq + 1.58% 7,256.43 +112.82

S & P + 1.21% 2.731.20 +32.57