Investing.com – Wall Street closed higher on Friday, snapping a two-week losing streak amid renewed optimism that President Donald Trump will deliver on tax reform while falling expectations of a rate hike later this year boosted sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower at 21,813. The S&P 500 closed 0.17% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed roughly flat.
Following a few days of low-volume trade, U.S. stocks sparked back into life, after a speech by Federal Reserve chair Yellen at Jackson Hole offered no insight into the central bank’s thinking on future monetary policy, reducing expectations of a third rate hike later this year.
That speech came a few hours after chief economic advisor Gary Cohn sought to ease investor uncertainty over the Trump administration's ability to deliver on its economic agenda, saying that president will make a major push on tax reform over coming weeks.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Cohn said that the president will start publicly campaigning for tax reform in a series of speeches, the first one of which gets underway in Missouri on Wednesday.
Meanwhile economic data showing durable goods orders in July undershot expectations had little impact on U.S. stocks.
Overall orders for durable goods, items ranging from toasters to aircraft meant to last three years or more, fell 6.8% in July, the Commerce Department said on Friday, missing expectations of just a 6% decline.
'Bulls and Bears' on S&P 500
The top Dow gainers for the session: American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) up 5.4%, Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ:ADSK) up 3.9% and Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV) up 3.9%
Ulta Beauty Inc (NASDAQ:ULTA) down 9.1%, Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO) down 3.7% and TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) down 3.7%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.