It was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500. Over the last 15 years, its average price-earnings ratio is 15.7.
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Goldman Sachs (GS.N) dropped 1.2 per cent, with most of its businesses under pressure even as the Wall Street bank reported a higher quarterly profit.
“Today’s pause is the market looking for more good earnings and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a small pullback as the market digests the recent gains”, Bakhos said. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.1 per cent. The company, which provides uniforms, restroom supplies and other products for offices, surged $10.19, or 10.5 percent, to $107.61.
The commodity complex showed some weakness on Wednesday, with the Bloomberg Commodity index losing 0.69 percent. Brent crude, the standard for oil sold internationally, gained 27 cents to $46.93 a barrel in London.
HIT THE BRAKES: Shares of electric auto maker Tesla skidded after investors weren’t impressed with CEO Elon Musk’s “master plan” for the company, which was posted on Tesla’s website late Wednesday.
Almost two out of three companies so far this reporting season have come in above analysts’ profit expectations, according to S&P Global Markets Intelligence. GM was up 4.4 percent at $32.90 after the automaker raised its full-year earnings forecast.
Netflix, IBM and Yahoo on Monday kicked off the earnings season for technology companies, whose stocks tend to have a big influence on the major indexes.
But the rally has been driven by defensive sectors such as telecoms and utilities amid concerns about global instability including Britain’s recent vote to leave the European Union.
NO FEAR: Calm in the markets meant less demand for gold and Treasurys, traditional go-to investments during periods of fear. Gold for August delivery is now sliding $13.70 to $1,318.60 an ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves in the opposite direction of its price, rose to 1.58 percent from 1.56 percent late Tuesday.
Stocks were higher in Europe with the broad Stoxx Erope 600 index up 1%.
“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. On the Nasdaq, 1,415 issues rose and 1,178 fell.
Biogen was up 2.9 percent at $270 after its results beat expectations. These types of stocks had led the market for much of 2016 as investors sought alternatives to low-yielding bonds.
The price of US crude oil rose 29 cents to $44.94 per barrel. The Nasdaq, however, was the big gainer on the day, adding better than 1 percent.
OVERSEAS: European markets were also little changed.
In currency markets, the dollar fell 0.51% against the pound but rose 0.43% versus the yen and 0.09% versus the euro.
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The yen earlier touched a six-week low against the dollar on reports of a 20-trillion-plus-yen Japanese stimulus package only to bolt upwards as Bank of Japan chief Haruhiko Kuroda shot down talk of “helicopter money”, effectively giving cash directly to the population, in a BBC radio interview.
