Wall Street shrugs of Mnuchin’s “there’s still a lot of work to do” on trade talks, DJIA back en route to 78.6% fibo

• The S&P 500 index SPX, +0.41% climbed 14 points, or 0.5%, to 2,822.48.
• Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.76% out on 57.62 points, 0.8%, to 7,688.53.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.54% added 138.93 points, or 0.5%, to 25,848.87.

Wall Street was putting on a more positive display on Friday, with the NASDAQ and S&P 500 ending at five-month highs while the DJIA adding  1.6% on the week, its best week  since Feb. 15th. Despite the growing concerns that the trade talks seemed to have been losing momentum, news that  Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Beijing’s No. 2 leader after President Xi Jinping, had been  optimistic  saying that a deal between the US and Chinese  can be achieved that suits both parties helped to curb the recent pessimism. However, the tone was tempered down again slightly by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking to reporters after his Senate testimony in front of a finance committee, saying “there’s still a lot of work to do.”

U.S.  data:

• The NY Empire manufacturing index surprised to the downside  for March, printing a 3.7 down from 8.8 in February.  
• Industrial production bounced back modestly in February, registering a 0.1% m/m increase.    
• UMich’s sentiment recovered further to 97.8 in March on the back of an increase in the expectations component, which was in line with the pickup in consumer confidence.

DJIA levels

The index added to the week’s recovery, extending from Thursday’s highs and breaking up from the sideways consolidation, back towards the 78.6% Fibo target located around the psychological 26000 level. Should the price stall again, however, failures there opens risk towards a downside target at the 61.8% Fibo  level  positioned beneath the 25000 psychological level at 24847. A break there brings in the 38.2% Fibo at 24500 and then the 50% Fibo just below the psychological 24000 level.