US stock indices advanced on Monday and continued to extend their rally on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.61% at the close of trading session on Monday. The Standard and Poor's 500 Index was also up by 0.85%. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed by 1.55%.
At the time of writing, the Dow Jones futures rose by 0.06%. The NASDAQ high-tech index also advanced by 0.31% and the broad-based S&P 500 index went up by 0.13%. The global stock markets were extending gains on Tuesday, supported by cautious risk appetite among investors. Asian stock indices can also boast great results as today they showed an average rise of 2.5%. However, the situation in the European stock market is less optimistic as European stock exchanges have posted a decline.
Yesterday's data on housing in the United States for July came as a surprise to analysts as it revealed that the existing home sales have increased. The report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) indicated that sales of existing homes rose by 2% in July to 5.99 million units on an annualized basis. In June, the indicator was at 5.87 million units. This means that homes sales in July increased by 1.6% compared to the previous month.
These results were quite encouraging. According to Trading Economics, analysts expected a 0.7% decline from the previous month. So, in July, the estimated number of sold homes was seen at no more than 5.82 million. Meanwhile, experts at MarketWatch forecast a 0.5% decline to 5.83 million units.
The shares of Illumina Inc., which is currently engaged in development, production, and implementation of systems aimed at analyzing genetic diversity and biological functions, fell in price by 1.7%. The reason was for this was the investigation initiated by the European Commission. It intended to assess Illumina's decision to complete its acquisition of Grail Inc., which is producing tests for detecting early stages of cancer, despite objections from the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Concerns about antitrust violations in Europe have not influenced the decision of Illumina's management.
On the other hand, the shares of the American technology company NVIDIA Corp. were up by 5.5%. The UK government considers opening an investigation into NVIDIA's management proposal to buy Arm (Arm Holdings) for $40 billion.
The value of shares of the largest American automobile corporation, General Motors, fell by 1.3%. The company's management announced a decision to recall all Chevrolet Bolt vehicles that have already been sold around the world. These vehicles have a serious defect in their LG batteries that could result in vehicle fires. The manufacturer assures car owners that it is enough to replace the batteries to solve this problem.
Meanwhile, M&A company NextGen Acquisition Corp. II rose by 1.9%. US-based small satellite launch services company Virgin Orbit has agreed to merge with NextGen. According to the terms of the deal, Virgin Orbit is worth approximately $3.2 billion.
This week, investors are focused on the upcoming economic symposium which is held annually in Jackson Hole. Special attention will be given to the speech of Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Markets are looking for the hints from the regulator's officials regarding supporting measures and the time when the asset purchase program will be suspended.