NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks pulled back moderately in midday trading on Wall Street Thursday as investors hit the pause button following a record-setting streak.
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USA stocks ticked lower on Tuesday as mixed earnings reports dented investor optimism entering the earnings season, while lower expectations of global growth also weighed on sentiment. Industrial and materials companies had some of the biggest declines.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down 6 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,161 at 12:26 p.m. US stocks were poised to open lower, with Dow futures dipping 0.2 percent to 18,420.00 and broader S&P 500 futures down 0.3 percent to 2,153.60. But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1 percent to 21,882.48 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.7 percent to 5,488.70.
OVERSEAS: European markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.3 percent to 16,681.89, while South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.1 percent to 2,015.46. The price of benchmark USA crude lost 25 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $44.38 a barrel.
Several reports on the USA economy have also come in better than expected in recent weeks, which has helped stock indexes reach record highs. A slew of US corporate earnings are also expected throughout the week, while the ECB’s policy rate decision is Thursday, with markets expected to be volatile ahead of the announcement.
“It seems like the weaker parts of the market are starting to at least try and keep pace with the stronger parts and there really hasn’t been a big selloff in the big winners to this point”, said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey. “This is a case where the US stock market is the only place to go”.
GLOBAL OUTLOOK: Investors are anticipating a slew of events this week that they’ll assess to get a better read on the health of the world economy and what it might mean for stock markets.
Duessel does not see a recession on the horizon, and she says stock prices can remain high because government bonds and other alternatives look even less attractive. It added fewer subscribers last quarter than it expected, which it blamed on customers leaving before a rate-freeze on their accounts expired. GM was up 4.4 percent at $32.90 after the automaker raised its full-year earnings forecast.
CLOUD COVER: Microsoft surged $3.11, or 5.9 percent, to $56.21. Analysts expect S&P 500 companies to say their earnings per share fell 5 percent in the spring quarter from the same period a year earlier, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. All but one of those days had a gain of less than 1 percent. The maker of robotic-assisted surgical systems reported revenue and earnings per share that both topped analysts’ expectations.
The S&P Midcap 400 index was down 0.4% at 1,539 but there was no Guesswork who was the main decliner.
Intel, a Dow component, reported late Wednesday that revenue growth slowed at its data center business. European bourses closed lower due to a slowdown in Germany’s July ZEW Economic Sentiment Survey and a cut in the U.K.’s 2016 projected growth rate.
Oil futures prices are advancing today after closing higher on Wednesday following the Energy Information Administration report United States crude oil inventories fell 2.3 million barrels last week while gasoline stocks rose 911,000 barrels.
Treasury yields were as follows on Tuesday afternoon: The yield on the 2-Year Note was 0.70 percent.
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Lastly, gold (August contracts) rose 0.23% to $1,332.30 while the dollar rose 0.5% against a basket of six currencies. The euro was almost flat against the dollar at $1.1005.
