The price of crude oil shook off an early slide and closed up 4%.
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Major Asian markets (AAXJ) were trading on a positive note on April 19, 2016.
THE QUOTE: After several weeks of moving in different directions, the stock market appears to be getting more closely tied to the fluctuations in oil prices.
Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG, says “an element of hesitancy is evident within Europe ahead of a clear event risk with the European Central Bank”.
BIG SLIDE: Calumet Specialty Products Partners tumbled 46.7 percent after the fuel and specialty chemicals company issued a discouraging first-quarter forecast and suspended its cash distribution.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 39 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,093 as of 12:14 p.m. Eastern time.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added six points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,100. Earlier, both had been even lower, with NY crude down 7 percent at one stage. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0.7 percent. The stock shed $1.78 to $38.23. Heating oil added 3 cents, or 2.2 percent, to close at $1.26 a gallon.
The market got some encouraging data on housing, with the National Association of Realtors reporting that sales of previously occupied USA homes bounced back in March after a February slump as the spring home-selling season kicked off.
United States stocks ended higher on Tuesday as investors weighed earnings reports while oil advanced.
The nine-week rally in USA equities has faltered about 1 percent short of the S&P 500’s all-time high, as results from corporate America have done little to alleviate concern that signs of accelerating economic expansion haven’t yet translated into profit growth.
ENERGY PLAY: Southwestern Energy led oil and natural gas companies higher.
“If earnings continue to surprise on the upside, you could see people… join the rally and that money from the sidelines will move into the market”, said Nadia Lovell, US Equity Specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
Discover Financial Services climbed after the credit card issuer and lender reported better-than-anticipated quarterly profit and sales as loan volume improved. The stock rose $3.32 to $55.87.
STRONG QUARTER: VMWare jumped 12.6% after the Palo Alto, Calif., cloud-computing company reported better-than-expected earnings.
Some companies’ quarterly snapshots and outlooks failed to impress traders. The company was squeezed by a strong dollar and charges related to the transformation of its North American operations. Coca-Cola was the biggest decliner in the S&P 500. WTI oil for June delivery fell USD1, or 2.3%, to settle at USD43.18 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
PRINT IT: Lexmark International surged 10.1% after the printer maker agreed to be bought by a group that includes Apex Technology and PAG Asia Capital for about $2.51 billion.
Chinese stocks are retreating today with Shanghai Composite Index down 3.6% and more than 1,000 stocks trading in negative territory. Taiwan’s benchmark also fell while shares in Southeast Asia were mixed. Germany’s DAX jumped 2.2 percent to 10,347.35 and France’s CAC 40 rose 1.3 percent to 4,565.56.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.2 percent to 16,906.54 and the Australian S&P/ASX 200 added 0.5 percent to 5,281.20.
For the year, the Dow is up 3.3 percent, while the S&P 500 is up 2.5 percent.
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Stocks are closing mostly higher on Wall Street as energy and mining companies gain.
