U.S. stocks in New York opened higher on the 19th (local time), extending the record highs set the previous day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at 46,211.16, up 68.7 points (0.15%) from the previous session.
The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 opened at 6,647.11, up 15.1 points (0.23%). The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite opened at 22,554.315, up 83.6 points (0.37%).
This is seen as an extension of the rally after Wall Street's major indexes closed at record highs the day before. Earlier, on the 17th, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) strengthened investor sentiment with a rate cut, sending New York's three major indexes to close at all-time highs. The Fed lowered the benchmark rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.00%–4.25%.
Accordingly, on 18th the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 rose 0.48% to 6,631.96, the Nasdaq composite added 0.94% to 22,470.73, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.27% to 46,142.42 to end transaction.
Aswath Damodaran, a finance professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, said, "The market is maintaining strength on the back of earnings numbers," adding, "If the earnings figures keep coming in strong, there is no catalyst for a correction."
Regarding the moves in New York, he said, "It's not just big tech doing well, nor only tech stocks," adding, "It looks like all stocks are doing well."
By sector on the day in New York, technology, consumer, communications, and industrials were strong.
Apple shares rose more than 1% on the iPhone 17 launch and JPMorgan's target price upgrade for Apple. JPMorgan raised Apple's target price to $280 from $255.
Global express carrier FedEx gained about 2% on better-than-expected results.
By contrast, Intel, which had surged 22% the previous day, fell more than 2%. Citi's downgrade of Intel to sell from neutral appeared to weigh on the stock.
Meanwhile, market participants are looking forward to the currency details between President Trump and President Xi. Trump and Xi were said to have spoken from 8 a.m. to 9:20 a.m. on the day. However, the specific content of the currency was not disclosed.