Upbeat company earnings lifted US and European stock prices on Wednesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 setting record highs, while the dollar reached a four-month peak on bets the US Federal Reserve may raise interest rates by year-end. Technology stocks led the way following an encouraging report from Microsoft.
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Wall Street closed slightly higher on Monday to mint new record highs for the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials, fueled by Bank of America’s better-than-expected profit and a major tech sector acquisition. It’s the longest winning streak for the measure of blue-chip stocks since 2013, and it’s been a decidedly slow-and-steady one. It later recovered 1 percent as Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda told BBC radio that there is no need for “helicopter money” to fight inflation, and the central bank already had mechanisms in place to ease further if needed.
“The problem is: Where do we go from here?” asked Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab. This rare pattern is so obscure that I missed it. It was brought to my attention by a friend at Raymond James; Jeff Saut, their chief investment strategist, highlighted it on Tuesday morning, noting its origin is from the Investor’s Business Daily.
The S&P 500 rose 9.86 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,175.03. Microsoft shares rose 5.3 per cent, while Morgan Stanley stock gained 2.1 per cent. The company also raised its earnings forecast for the year.
NOT SO SWEET: Honeywell International fell $5.42, or 4.6 percent, to lead industrial stocks lower.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) shed 1.67 percent on the day to 11.77. Southwestern Energy was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500.
SURGING SURGICAL: Intuitive Surgical surged $36.91, or 5.5 percent, to $708.81 after the maker of robotic-assisted surgical systems reported revenue and earnings per share that both topped analysts’ expectations. That’s what usually happens, because analysts tend to lower their earnings forecasts for companies as each reporting season approaches. Corporate earnings likely weakened last quarter, for example, and the USA economy is still growing at a weaker rate than before the Great Recession.
DIVIDEND DIP: Low bond yields in recent years have pushed investors to find income in other areas of the market, such as dividend-paying stocks.
The S&P 500 was up 1.73 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 2,165.51. Boeing and Caterpillar fell 1 percent.
MORE INTEREST: Government bond yields rose.
Tesla fell 2.0 percent as founder Elon Musk unveiled a second master plan that includes building a new pick-up truck, and an urban bus, and a sharing system of self-driving cars. The price of benchmark USA crude lost 25 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $44.38 a barrel. Brent fell 97 cents to $46.20 a barrel in London. It fell to $1.3097 from $1.3203. Gold fell $7.60 to $1,323.40 an ounce, silver fell 13 cents to $19.69 an ounce and copper fell 2 cents to close at $2.24 a pound.
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In overseas trading, most major stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved higher during trading on Thursday. On the Nasdaq, 1,791 issues rose and 910. Healthcare.SPXHC eked out gains, helped by a 6.8-percent rise in Biogen BIIB.O after the biotechnology company’s strong report.
