The markets traded higher during the midday with the Dow gaining 47 points to 19,003 topping 19,000 for the first time. Nasdaq added 6 points 5,375.
French aircraft maker Airbus received a license from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control to sell 106 planes to Iran Air. U.S. approval was necessary since more than 10% of the components in the aircraft are made in America. The commercial aircraft sale was possible after sanctions imposed on Iran were lifted in January 2016.
Alibaba Cloud will open data facilities in Australia, Dubai, Germany and Japan as part of its plans to expand its global presence. China's largest cloud computing service provider expects to increase its stake of the global market to 7.8%. Alibaba Cloud has committed $1 billion to expand its infrastructure.
Toyota is recalling approximately 838,000 model year 2011 to 2016 Sienna minivans in the U.S., South Korea and Taiwan. The sliding side door's motor circuit may be overloaded if the door is impeded while opening. Toyota engineers are developing a solution to the problem.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 4 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 held steady at 2,198. Bitcoin climbed $8 to $746.
