Eight of the 10 S&P sectors finished in the red, led by materials (-0.7%), energy (-0.6%) and telecoms (-0.4%), while the financial (+0.1%) and industrial (+0.1%) groups ended with the only gains. The health care giant rose $2.11, or 1.7 percent, to $125.25 after it raised its forecast for profits this year. “But central banks are pumping liquidity in and, as we’ve seen from the last few days, that is going into stocks”.
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The Dow Jones industrial average.DJI rose 16.5 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 18,533.05, for its seventh consecutive up day.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.2 percent at 2,166.89, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 5,055.78.
The Dow eked out an eighth straight gain for its longest winning streak in more than three years, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped following a series of weak earnings reports.
THE RUN THAT WAS: The S&P 500 had surged just over 8 percent since June 27, when stocks hit a bottom following the United Kingdom’s vote.
International Business Machines (IBM.N) shares rose 2.5 per cent after hours following results.
“There seems to be a growing consensus that this is the trough of earnings for the S&P 500”, said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dow components Goldman Sachs (GS), UnitedHealth (UNH), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) are among the companies that have released their quarterly results before the start of today’s trading, reporting earnings that exceeded analyst estimates. The unit is Hasbro’s largest, accounting for 40 percent of its total revenue. The streaming service expected to add 2.5 million subscribers in the second-quarter, but only added 1.7 million. The company blamed cancellations by subscribers facing price increases after a two-year rate freeze expired.
The price of crude oil fell 59 cents to $44.65 a barrel.
EARNINGS RUNWAY: A slew of companies are scheduled to report their quarterly earnings this week, including almost a fifth of the S&P 500 index.
“For investors, the most important questions are: When is the recession coming, and am I paying too much for stocks?” said Linda Duessel, senior equity strategist at Federated Investors. Analysts are expecting earnings for the S&P 500 to return to growth in the current quarter, and investors hope to hear CEOs say at least that conditions are improving, if not good.
West Texas Intermediate settled down 1.6% at US45.24 a barrel, while Brent fell 1.3% to US47.01 a barrel.
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Precious metals were mixed on Tuesday, with gold prices rising and silver declining. Materials.SPLRCM and energy.SPNY shares lagged as a rise in the US dollar put pressure on oil and other commodities denominated in the currency. The euro fell to $1.1021 from $1.1068, and the British pound fell to $1.3120 from $1.3260. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is now trading at USD1,131.30, up USD2 from the previous session’s close of USD1,329.30. The dollar rose to 106.12 yen from 105.53 yen.
