US stocks edged higher in early trading Thursday as investors sized up quarterly results for big department store chains and other companies.
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The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index gained 0.47% to 2,185.79 with the Dow Jones Industrial average soaring 0.64% to finish at 18,613.52 points.
Macy’s jumped 17 percent after also saying it plans to close about 14 percent of its stores in a bid to maintain profitability.
Since June this year a stock market rally supported by low interest rates and a higher than average quarterly earnings has raised the S&P 500 higher by 7%.
Earlier, Asian stocks inched up off the back off the rise on Wall St, with mainland shares holding on to gains on hopes weaker-than-expected Chinese economic data would spur policy easing.
Stocks are opening slightly lower on Wall Street Friday after USA retail sales and producer price index come in softer than expected in July.
Oil prices have recovered since USA crude fell below $40 last week, but are still more than 12 per cent below their last peak in June, as brimming storage tanks and production that exceeds consumption weighs on markets. The 10-Year Note was last yielding 1.51 percent while the 30-Year Bond yield was 2.23 percent.
OIL RALLIES: An industry report released Thursday projected a more even balance in the supply and demand for oil this year.
Benchmark Brent LCOc1 climbed 1.7 percent to $46.84 a barrel, while USA crude CLc1 rose 2.1 percent to $44.42 a barrel. Ex-auto sales had been expected to rise by 0.2 percent. Banking, health care and technology companies also declined, while consumer-focused stocks and phone companies posted gains. West Texas Intermediate crude oil is up 3.7% at $43.27 per barrel despite the August International Energy Agency report out on Thursday saying a “dimmer macroeconomic outlook” would weigh on energy demand for 2017.
J.C. Penney JCP.N shares jumped 6.1 percent to $10.55, also following upbeat results. India’s Sensex gained 1 percent to 28,147.57 and markets in Southeast Asia were mostly higher. The Nasdaq composite index lost one point to 5,227.
In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline slipped 4 cents to $1.30 a gallon, while heating oil lost a penny to $1.32 a gallon.
The Quebec-based drugmaker saw its shares fall by more than 11 per cent to C$31.76. That’s a gain of 0.13 percent from its previous high last Friday.
There have been 40 other times the S&P 500 was up more than 6% for the year with 100 days to go (like 2016), and incredibly, the rest of the year is up 5.3% on average and higher 90% of the time.
Investors are hesitant to buy into bond rallies amid rising speculation the Fed will raise rates this year, with the probability of a 2016 hike at about 49 percent, according to futures data compiled by Bloomberg.
Nvidia (NVDA.O) rose 5.6 per cent after the chipmaker reported its fastest quarterly sales growth in almost five years.
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Oil prices rose almost 2 percent as the dollar slipped following the release of the economic data. The stock closed at $22.36. Shares reversed early gains to end the session trading 0.06% lower. In currency markets, the dollar strengthened to 101.35 yen from 101.29 on Wednesday. The euro rose to $1.1157 from $1.1137.
