Comments
US stocks climbed on Thursday as investors anticipated a strong earnings season and as US President Donald Trump's suggestion that a military strike on Syria may not be imminent ratcheted down geopolitical worries.
The S&P 500 has now recouped nearly all its losses from earlier this year.
Trump had said in a tweet on Thursday that a possible attack on Syria could occur “very soon or not so soon at all,” easing fears of confrontation with Russia.
That lifted US Treasury yields, leading to a 1.8 per cent increase in financial stocks, which had the biggest percentage advance among the S&P's 11 major sectors. The technology sector rose 1.3 per cent, adding the most gains to the S&P.
“We're hearing less talk of firing missiles and less talk of trade war,” said Michael Antonelli, managing director of institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee. ”Earnings are coming up and expectations are high.”
Strong quarterly results from BlackRock Inc and Delta Air Lines Inc added to the sanguine mood. Delta topped profit estimates, sending its shares 2.9 per cent higher and boosting other airline stocks.
BlackRock gained 1.5 per cent after the asset manager's quarterly profit rose more than expected. The earnings season begins in earnest on Friday with reports from JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co.
Analysts expect quarterly profit for S&P 500 companies to rise 18.4 per cent from a year ago, in what would be the biggest gain in seven years, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
“People are looking forward to earnings season,” said Tracie McMillion, head of global asset allocation strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. ”Market participants are not wanting to miss out if (earnings are) as good as the forecasts say they will be.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 293.6 points, or 1.21 per cent, to 24,483.05, the S&P 500 gained 21.8 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 2,663.99, and the Nasdaq Composite added 71.22 points, or 1.01 per cent, to 7,140.25.
Investor sentiment was also boosted by the weekly US initial jobless claims report, which pointed to sustained labour market strength.
Facebook Inc was a notable laggard among technology stocks, falling 1.5 per cent following a 5.3 per cent gain over the past two days when Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress on the social network's data security.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc shares dived 20.0 per cent after the company's full-year profit forecast missed estimates.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE for a 1.20-to-1 ratio and on the Nasdaq, for a 1.84-to-1 ratio. Volume on US exchanges was 6.12 billion shares, compared with the 7.27 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.