April 11 (Reuters) – Wall Street edged higher on Monday as oil prices climbed while financial shares gained ahead of a big week of earnings results from banks.
Advertisement
Heading into the new week, the Dow was up almost 1% for the year and the S&P 500 was 0.2% higher.
US stocks kicked off earnings season by pushing lower at the close on Monday, despite a rally in oil prices. Alcoa, the aluminum producer whose results traditionally mark the start of reporting, fell in after-hours NY trade when the company posted a drop in earnings and lowered its forecast for global metal demand.
“The market lacks enough conviction to move stocks in any one direction for any one amount of time long enough for investors to sink their teeth into and rack up performance”, John Stoltzfus, chief market strategist at Oppenheimer & Co.in NY, said by phone.
Looking ahead, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch believe earnings growth should recover as the USA dollar weakens (which would boost foreign earnings of US corporations), oil prices rebound and the economic data improves.
Tesla Motors dipped 0.1 percent after recalling 2,700 Model Model X sport utility vehicles to fix a locking hinge that could allow third-row seat-backs to fold forward. The company’s shares rose 3.9 percent to $9.73.
National Oilwell Varco NOV.N dropped 5.5 percent to $27.51 after the oilfield equipment maker said it would cut its quarterly dividend.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20.55 points, or 0.1%, to close at 17,556.41, with shares of Nike Inc.
The stock market remains on track for a higher open following last week’s downer; S&P and Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq +0.5%.
In corporate news, Yahoo was a little higher in pre-market trader after Daily Mail parent Daily Mail and General Trust confirmed it was in discussions to buy its assets. Futures on neighbouring Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index fell less than 0.1 per cent in most recent trading, while those on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Hang Seng China Enterprises indexes were down at least 0.1 per cent.
In currencies, the dollar was trading up 0.23% versus the safe-haven yen, after slipping below the Y108 level in Tokyo trading. Goldman Sachs shares rose 1.3% and JP Morgan was up 0.8%.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said the rise in the stock market implies that bad earnings have already been priced in.
Advertisement
Overnight, the Shanghai market rose 1.6%. They add that revenue growth will likely remain flat year over year or climb 3% excluding Energy, although this is still an improvement from the fourth quarter’s 3% decline or 1% gain excluding Energy.
