US stock gain traction on upbeat GDP data, focus shifts to Fed speakers

After a relatively flat opening, the US stock markets seems to have gained traction and traded in positive territory during opening hour of trade on Thursday. 

Investors' sentiment got a boost from upwardly revised fourth-quarter US GDP print that underscored strength in the domestic economy and supported views for additional Fed rate-hike actions through 2017. Hence, investors now look forward to speeches from couple of Federal Reserve members, later during the day. 

At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added over 70-points and rose to 20,735, while the broader S&P 500 Index was up over 5-points to 2,367. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 15-points to move back above 5,900 mark.

With today's up-move, major US equity indices have largely recovered their losses witness in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s failure to push through a legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare. Investors, however, will wait to see if Trump is able to gain sufficient support for his next legislative priority - tax reforms, which might eventually cap further gains in equity markets.

Meanwhile, with markets already trading with very high valuations, a slightest of hint that the tax reforms won't go through would serious dent investor confidence and has the ability to trigger a fresh leg of sell-off in equity markets.