US stocks opened higher Wednesday, as Wall Street cheered better-than-expected quarterly earnings from Morgan Stanley and Microsoft.
Advertisement
Sixty four percent of S&P 500 companies that had reported as of Tuesday morning topped earnings estimates, according to Thomson Reuters, compared to a long-term average of 63 percent over the past 22 years.
The recent record run for equities hit some headwinds as Netflix tumbled 14 per cent after subscriber growth disappointed, and Philip Morris International dropped 3.3 per cent after its earnings missed forecasts as the strong dollar hurt sales outside of the US Johnson & Johnson provided some offset, climbing 1.2 per cent after its quarterly profit beat estimates.
The red-hot Dow, riding an eight-session winning streak and bolstered by a strong earnings report and stock surge from index member Microsoft, jumped higher Wednesday as it pushed further into record territory.
Health care giant Johnson & Johnson rose 1.7 percent after reporting earnings that beat analysts’ forecasts.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 12 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,176 at 11:30 a.m.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 19.80 points, or 0.39 percent, at 5,035.99. The price of gold fell $17.40, or 1.3 percent, to $1,314.90 per ounce.
Six of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, with the defensive sectors – utilities .SPLRCU , consumer staples .SPLRCS and telecoms .SPLRCL – down 0.3 to 0.5 percent. During regular trading ahead of the report, the company’s shares fell 1.6 percent. The New York Stock Exchange’s primary exchange traded 755 million shares with total volume of 3 billion shares, and the Nasdaq crossed 1.7 billion shares.
The major averages closed mixed on Tuesday, with the Dow posting a slight gain and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 registering minor losses.
European stocks SXXP, +0.91% were near a one-month high, helped by some upbeat corporate updates. Netflix and other companies reported disappointing results, and the International Monetary Fund predicted a slowdown in the United Kingdom’s economy following its vote to leave the European Union.
Prices for U.S. Treasury debt, considered a safe-haven asset, rose as risk appetite waned following weakness in stocks.
The International Monetary Fund said Tuesday that indicators are pointing to a pickup in the US economy following a weaker-than-expected first quarter.
Precious and industrial metals prices ended the day mixed.
Oil prices turned lower releasing early gains ahead of the weekly US petroleum report (http://www.marketwatch.com/ story/crude-prices-choppy-ahead-of-big-supply-data-2016-07-20) released by the Energy Information Administration. Wholesale gasoline fell 3 cents to $1.39 a barrel, heating oil lost 2 cents to $1.38 a gallon and natural gas fell 3 cents to $2.72 per 1,000 cubic feet. The euro fell to $1.1021 from $1.1068, and the British pound fell to $1.3120 from $1.3260.
Advertisement
CURRENCIES: The dollar edged lower to 106.08 yen from 106.22 in late trading Monday but was still hovering near its highest level in almost a month.
