Tag: Americas

(Reuters) – The Dow and S&P 500 rose on Wednesday, powered by banks stocks, as optimism for an economic recovery as lockdowns continued to ease overshadowed worries of simmering U.S.-China tensions.

Declines in technology shares limited the advance, with the Nasdaq underperforming the other major indexes.

The S&P 500 financial index .SPSY provided the biggest boost to the benchmark index, sending it past the psychologically key 3,000 level in intraday trading for a second day in a row. In contrast, heavyweights Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Facebook Inc (FB.O), which have led the recent rally, were down.

“It’s the tech stocks that are probably most sensitive to Chinese growth,” said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis.

“If the market is going to go higher from here, you’re going to have to have broader participation, but you are going to need those large-cap tech companies to be along for the ride, because they make up such a large portion of the benchmark,” Samana said.

The easing of lockdowns, optimism about an eventual COVID-19 vaccine and massive U.S. stimulus have powered the recent stock market rally, with the S&P 500 .SPX on Tuesday ending at its highest level since early March.

Even so, U.S. tensions with China have cast a cloud on markets. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Washington would announce its response to China’s planned national security legislation on Hong Kong before the end of the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 317.75 points, or 1.27%, to 25,312.86, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 21.81 points, or 0.73%, to 3,013.58 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 6.73 points, or 0.07%, to 9,346.95.

Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Twitter Inc slipped as Trump threatened to shutter social media companies a day after Twitter attached a warning to some of his tweets, prompting readers to fact-check the president’s tweets.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.70-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.81-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 35 new highs and eight new lows.

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(Reuters) – U.S. stocks jumped and the S&P 500 breached 3,000 points on Tuesday as optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine and a revival in business activity helped investors overlook simmering Sino-U.S. tensions.

The benchmark index traded above the key psychological level and also above its 200-day moving average, a closely watched long-term trend indicator, for the first time since March 5.

All 11 S&P sector indexes gained in early trading, with cyclical financials .SPSY, industrials .SPLRCI and energy .SPNU stocks jumping more than 3%.

The S&P 500 has risen about 37% from its March lows on a raft of central bank and government stimulus, and is now just about 11% below its February record high.

On Monday, California decided to reopen in-store retail businesses and places of worship from one of the most restrictive shutdowns in the United States.

“People have been locked up and when they see sparkles of hope like vaccines, that drives optimism probably ahead of where it should be and clearly ahead of the economy,” said Richard Steinberg, chief market strategist at Colony Group in Florida.

At 10:01 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 575.66 points, or 2.35%, at 25,040.82, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 54.53 points, or 1.85%, at 3,009.98, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 126.77 points, or 1.36%, at 9,451.36.

U.S. biotech group Novavax Inc (NVAX.O) jumped 17.3% as it joined the race to test coronavirus vaccine candidates on humans and enrolled its first participants.

Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N) added 1.5% as it announced plans to develop two separate vaccines.

But with U.S. unemployment soaring beyond 14% and macroeconomic data pointing at a deep recession, analysts warned financial markets could be betting on too fast a recovery.

“Business cycles don’t simply end in two to three months – in a way that’s what some of these sectors are pricing. It’s going to be very slow,” said Patrick Fruzzetti, managing director and senior research analyst at the Rosenau Group.

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• Instant View: S&P rises above 3,000 level for first time since March

Beaten down travel-related stocks soared, with S&P 1500 airlines index .SPCOMAIR up 10.3% and cruise operators including Carnival Corp (CCL.N) more than 12%.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners more than 9-to-1 on the NYSE and 5-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 13 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 83 new highs and four new lows.

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(Reuters) – Wall Street ended mixed on Friday in a mostly tame finish to a week of strong gains, as investors gauged China-U.S. tensions and amid ongoing uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery from the coronavirus.

President Donald Trump’s warning on Thursday that the U.S. would react strongly to China’s plan for a national security law in Hong Kong has raised concerns over Washington and Beijing’s possibly reneging on their Phase 1 trade deal.

Late in the session, stocks edged lower after the U.S. Commerce Department said it was adding 33 Chinese companies and other institutions to an economic blacklist for human rights violations and to address U.S. national security concerns.

The increasing rhetoric between Washington and Beijing has knocked Wall Street off multi-month highs, although the three main indexes still all rose around 3% for the week, fueled by optimism about an eventual coronavirus vaccine and the easing of virus-related curbs.

“We still think COVID-19 concerns are in the driver’s seat, but we could see U.S.-China relations move back into the front seat,” said Eric Freedman, chief investment officer at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

U.S. stock exchanges will be closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.

The Nasdaq index is down about 5% from its Feb. 19 record high, helped in recent weeks by gains in Microsoft, Amazon and other heavyweight companies seen coming out of the economic downturn stronger than their smaller rivals.

The S&P 500 real estate sector index jumped 2.2%, leading the 11 sectors, while energy dropped 0.7% as oil prices sank about 3%. [O/R]

A 1.9% drop in Chevron weighed on the Dow.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.04% to end at 24,465.16 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.24%, to 2,955.45. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.43% to 9,324.59.

For the week, the Dow added 3.3%, the S&P 500 rose 3.2%, and the Nasdaq climbed 3.4%.

Mixed earnings from retailers Walmart Inc, Best Buy Co Inc and Home Depot Inc earlier this week showed online shopping gaining traction with the lockdown orders, a trend that could damage brick-and-mortar players already feeling pressure from internet rivals.

On Friday, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group reported better-than-expected quarterly profit, but its shares tumbled almost 6%. Smaller rival Pinduoduo Inc’s U.S.-listed shares surged over 14% after the company posted upbeat results.

Nvidia climbed 2.9% after forecasting strong quarterly revenue as demand surges for its data center chips.

KKR & Co rose 1.1% after India’s Reliance Industries said the private equity firm would buy a 2.3% stake in its digital unit for 113.67 billion rupees ($1.50 billion).

Data analytics software maker Splunk Inc jumped over 12% after it said it expects more demand for its cloud services.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 8.75 billion shares, compared to the 11.2 billion average for the last 20 trading days.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.17-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.30-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted six new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 62 new highs and nine new lows.

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(Reuters) – U.S. stock indexes were set for a near-flat open on Friday as investors weighed hopes of more stimulus to revive an ailing economy against simmering Sino-U.S. trade tensions.

China on Friday unveiled details about its plan to impose a national security law in Hong Kong that could see mainland intelligence agencies set up bases in the global financial hub, raising fears of more pro-democracy protests.

Reports of the law on Thursday had drawn fire from President Donald Trump, toppling Wall Street’s main indexes from multi-month highs that were hit on optimism around a revival in business activity with the easing of coronavirus-led lockdowns.

“Market sentiment is really vulnerable to expensive valuation at the moment,” said Andrea Cicione, head of strategy at TS Lombard.

“After the shock of the COVID-19 lockdown, we have to go through a regular recession with high unemployment, low capex, low demand and that’s not what’s priced in at the moment.”

At 8:37 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 21 points, or 0.09%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.09% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 9 points, or 0.1%.

A swathe of mixed retail earnings from Walmart Inc, Best Buy Co Inc and Home Depot Inc earlier in the week had shown online shopping gaining traction due to the stay-at-home orders.

On Friday, Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, but its shares slipped 1.6%. Smaller rival Pinduoduo Inc’s U.S.-listed shares gained 1.2% after its own upbeat quarterly earnings report.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise fell 7.3% after missing second-quarter revenue and profit estimates, hit by global lockdowns since February.

Data analytics software maker Splunk Inc rose 5.8% after saying it expects higher demand for its cloud services as people around the world take to working from home.

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(Reuters) – The S&P edged higher on Thursday as investors weighed the prospect of additional stimulus and states reopening for business against bellicose remarks from President Donald Trump about U.S.-China trade negotiations and dire warnings from a whistleblower about the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Dow joined the S&P in the black, while tech shares held the Nasdaq in negative territory.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the governor’s lockdown orders, fueling hopes that mandated restrictions could be lifted sooner rather than later.

But an ousted health official testified before a U.S. House of Representatives panel that the United States could face “the darkest winter” if its response to the pandemic failed to improve.

Comments by Trump late Wednesday blamed China for the coronavirus outbreak and revived trade war fears, even as mandated lockdowns continue to damage the economy.

That damage was in evidence in a report from the U.S. Labor Department, which showed just under 3 million new jobless claims last week, pushing the seven-week tally well over 36 million.

“Going forward, we’re looking at how quickly jobs are going to come back to the economy,” said Charlie Ripley, senior market strategist for Allianz Investment Management in Minneapolis. “And we’re not going to get a clear picture of that until we see where consumer demand is at.”

A White House spokeswoman said President Trump is open to another possible stimulus bill, which could further support economic recovery.

Economic and fiscal stimulus is keeping buyers in the market, said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York wrote in a research note.

In a research note, Moya wrote “The economic outlook will remain uncertain until a vaccine is in place, but a complete selloff is unlikely when trillions of dollars keep getting put into the economy.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 157.61 points, or 0.68%, to 23,405.58, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 6.31 points, or 0.22%, to 2,826.31 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 18.64 points, or 0.21%, to 8,844.53.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, seven were higher, led by financial .SPSY and energy .SPNY stocks.

First-quarter earnings season is on the final stretch, with 451 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 66.7% have beaten consensus, according to Refinitiv data.

In aggregate, earnings for the first three months of the year are seen falling by 12.1% from the year-ago quarter, a stark reversal from the 6.3% annual growth seen on Jan. 1.

Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) rose 4.2% after its earnings beat, driven by a jump in demand for its work-from-home networking equipment.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.61-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.01-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and 16 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 18 new highs and 110 new lows.

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(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday, after Wall Street’s main indexes fell sharply in the previous session, with markets also awaiting comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell amid recent speculation over negative interest rates.

Futures traders began pricing in the possibility of negative rates last week and President Donald Trump piled pressure on the Fed again on Tuesday, as the economy reels from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, several members of the U.S. central bank have recently said they do not see a need for borrowing costs, now near zero, to move into negative territory. Powell’s webcast address is expected to start at 9 a.m. ET (1300 GMT).

“Powell will probably reaffirm that negative rates are not on the cards, putting him on another collision course with the President,” said Raffi Boyadjian, senior investment analyst at XM.

“Depending on how strongly Powell rejects the possibility of negative rates, Wall Street looks vulnerable to sell offs.”

Unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus actions as well as hopes of an economic recovery have been vital in helping the three main U.S. stock indexes rise about 30% from their March lows.

However, the rally paused this week as a spike in cases in Germany, South Korea and China and a warning from a top U.S. health expert spurred worries of a second wave of coronavirus infections as lockdowns are slowly lifted in several countries.

At 8:15 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 163 points, or 0.69%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 19.25 points, or 0.67% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 76.75 points, or 0.85%.

Generic drugmaker Mylan NV rose 1.7% premarket after it signed a licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc for Gilead’s remdesivir drug, which recently received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization to treat COVID-19 patients.

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(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures ticked higher on Tuesday on hopes that the easing of virus-led business shutdowns would help jump-start a battered global economy, with investors also weighing the risks of reopening too soon.

Adding to the upbeat mood, China announced a new list of 79 U.S. products including ores of rare earth metals, gold ores and silver ores for waivers from retaliatory tariffs.

Trade tensions between the two countries resurfaced recently, but optimism about a recovery in business activity and massive stimulus measures have helped the S&P 500 climb about 34% from the lows of a pandemic-driven selloff in March.

“We’re in a very choppy period where we don’t really collapse or don’t go much higher,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

“Things are going to begin to normalize. But what the market is looking out for is what does normalization mean and what is its impact on corporations and the economy.”

Wuhan reported its first cluster of coronavirus infections since a lockdown on the city, stoking concerns of a wider resurgence.

Later on Tuesday, top U.S. health authorities will testify to a Senate committee looking into plans for lifting the nation’s lockdown.

Wall Street’s fear gauge slipped for the fourth day running, hitting a ten-week low, even as data showed U.S. consumer prices in April dropped by the most since the Great Recession, weighed down by a plunge in demand for gasoline and services including airline travel.

The focus for this week is the retail report for April due on Friday.

At 8:43 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 104 points, or 0.43%. S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.25 points, or 0.35% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 34.25 points, or 0.37%.

Among stocks, BlackRock Inc dropped 3.2% in premarket trade as its top shareholder PNC Financial Services Group Inc planned to sell its entire 22% stake in the world’s largest asset manager.

Simon Property Group Inc jumped 11.3% as the biggest U.S. mall operator said it would have about half of its more than 200 retail properties in the country open within the next week.

Smaller rival Macerich Co climbed 8.3% as it expected to open a vast majority of its properties by mid-June.

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