NEW YORK: The Standard and Poor’s 500 crossed 1,900 for the first time on Tuesday in early trade after an encouraging report on small-business optimism offset lackluster US retail sales data.
The broad index, which closed at a record high on Monday, got as high as 1,900.82 shortly after the market opened before retreating to 1,898.16, up 1.51 points (0.08 percent) around 1400 GMT.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 28.45 points (0.17 percent) to 16,723.92, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 4.34 (0.10 percent to 4,139.51.
The Commerce Department reported that US retail and food services sales rose a mere 0.1 percent in April, weaker than the 0.3 percent gain expected by analysts. But the National Federation of Independent Businesses said its May index of small-business optimism rose 1.8 points to 95.2, the highest rating since 2007.
