Dow hits new record but Trump effect eases on Wall St

[NEW YORK] The Dow hit a fresh record but stock gains on Wall Street slowed Friday as the bump from Donald Trump's surprise presidential election victory eased.

With trade lightened by the Veterans day holiday, the Dow edged up 0.2 per cent to a new record at 18,847.66, scoring its best week in five years.

The Nasdaq rebounded after Thursday's tech selloff, gaining 0.5 per cent at 5,237.11.

But the S&P 500 sagged under the weight of losses in the energy sector due to another sharp drop in crude oil prices.

The broad based index lost 0.1 per cent at 2,164.45.

"For the most part, investors took the day off today in honour of Veterans Day," said Jack Ablin of BMO Private Bank.

"Oil came down some ... But with the bond market closed, it's hard to really do much equity trading. So I wouldn't take any of these moves today as any indication of a trend."

A 3.3 per cent drop in the price of New York-traded WTI crude drove losses across oil stocks. Exxon fell 1.6 per cent, Chevron 1.1 per cent, and ConocoPhillips 1.9 per cent.

The Dow's new high came on the back of Walt Disney Co after the entertainment giant turned in disappointing earnings but promised "modest" growth and said its skidding ESPN unit was bottoming out and would show better in coming quarters.

Goldman Sachs also buoyed the blue chips with a 1.5 per cent gain.

Shares of China's online marketplace Alibaba sank 1.4 per cent despite it reporting record sales of almost US$18 billion on its annual Singles Day event.

Consumers spent more than US$1 billion in the first five minutes of the sales, the firm said.

Also on the rise were automakers General Motors, which surged 3.9 per cent, and Ford, up 2.9 per cent.

AFP