Wall Street hits fresh record highs

WALL STREET closed at a record high on Wednesday as videogame makers rallied and Apple’s market value climbed above $900 billion.

Take-Two Interactive Software jumped 10.58% after the videogame maker offered a strongerthan-expected revenue forecast for the holiday quarter.

That sparked a rally among its competitors, with Activision Blizzard surging 5.89% and Electronic Arts adding 2.19%.

Buoyed by optimism about the recently released iPhone X, Apple added 0.82% and ended with a market capitalization of $905 billion, its highest ever.

More broadly, investors remained nervous about the potential outcome of the Republican plan unveiled last week that would cut corporate taxes while eliminating a range of popular tax breaks. The bill is expected to face strong opposition from interest groups.

‘COMPLICATED, MESSY AFFAIR’

Republicans have yet to score a major legislative win since Mr. Trump took off ice in January, even though the party controls both chambers of Congress as well as the White House.

“It’s a complicated, messy affair to get a tax bill passed,” said Tim Dreiling, Regional investment Director for US Bank Private Wealth Management, with $150 billion in assets under management. “There is going to be some give and take before we get a final tax package to be voted on.”

The S&P 500 has risen about 21% since the election of President Donald Trump a year ago, partly on the back of his promises to cut taxes and implement other business- friendly measures.

DRIVERS

Wall Street’s three major indices closed at record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.03% to end at 23,563.36, while the S&P 500 gained 0.14% to 2,594.38. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.32% to 6,789.12.

Six of the 11 major S&P sectors rose, led by a 1.08% increase in consumer staples.

The tech sector was boosted 0.50% by a 2.17% rise in Qualcomm after the smartphone chipmaker launched a server processor aimed at challenging Intel. Intel declined 0.17%.

Snapchat owner Snap fell 14.62% a day after reporting much-slower-than expected advertising revenue and user growth. Snap said China’s Tencent bought a 12% stake in the company.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1.03 to one; on Nasdaq, a 1.05-to-one ratio favored decliners. About seven billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, above the 6.50 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. —