The S&P 500 also made a new high after gaining a little better than 9 points, or 0.43 percent, to finish at 2,173.
Advertisement
Still, second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies, which started reporting in earnest this week, are now expected to decline by only 3 per cent, less severe than the 4.5 per cent drop estimated at the start of the month, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The S&P 500 index showed 24new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 67 new highs and 16 new lows.
The German DAX was roughly 4 points lower and France’s CAC fell 0.35 percent. “I think it’s interesting; a half-a-percent move down feels like a 5 percent move”.
Many doubts are still hanging over the market, including the continued drop for corporate earnings and a USA economy that is growing only modestly. Analysts expect net income among S&P 500 members will slide 5.8 percent in the second quarter for a fifth straight decline.
While most stock markets post gains, investors scaled back their holdings of government bonds, with United States and German yields near their highest levels since Britain’s vote to leave the European Union on June 23. The Dow Jones industrial average extended gains Wednesday for nine consecutive days for the first time since 2013.
Next week, the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve both will hold policy meetings.
Though a stronger dollar could be a sign of improving investor confidence in the US economy, it is a source of headache for USA multinationals. A Citigroup gauge that tracks the degree to which data are exceeding economist projections is at an 18-month high, helping to boost wagers on a Fed rate move this year. The producer of natural gas and oil it reported higher-than-expected earnings and raised its forecast for production this year.
CLOSE BEHIND: Intuitive Surgical was the second-best performing stock in the S&P 500.
POWERED UP: Stanley Black & Decker jumped $5.58 or 4.9 percent, to $120.55 after reporting stronger revenue and earnings for its last quarter than Wall Street expected.
American Express Co. lost 1.5 per cent as its revenue was short of predictions.
Southwest Airlines LUV.N fell 11.1 percent and led other airline stocks lower after the company forecast a drop in a key profitability metric. The industrial sector was the only one of the 10 that make up the S&P 500 to fall.
A notable pullback by shares of Intel (INTC) also weighed on the markets, with the semiconductor giant slumping by 4 percent after ending Wednesday’s trading at its best closing level in over a year. Technology stocks led the way following an encouraging report from Microsoft.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged but signaled it could soon enact further stimulus in response to sluggish economic conditions.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.8 percent, and South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.2 percent.
Treasury yields were as follows: The yield on the 2-Year Note was 0.73 percent.
COMMODITIES: The price of US crude oil fell 78 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $44.95 a barrel. Brent fell 97 cents to $46.20 a barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The pound sank against the dollar on expectations for more stimulus from the Bank of England.
HEALTHY SPOT: Johnson & Johnson rose $2.12, or 1.7 percent, to $125.26.
Advertisement
METALS: Precious and industrial metals prices ended lower.
