US open: Corporate results, factory data buoy Wall Street
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Thursday 16 Nov 2017
(ShareCast News) - Wall Street is back in the green, bouncing back from weakness earlier in the week thanks to a crop of positive corporate updates and a robust reading on factory output, even as some analysts continue to differ on the outlook.
To take note of, that was despite news overnight that US senator Ron Johnson said he would not support Senate Republicans' tax package, meaning it would now suffice for just two other senators to pull their support to keep the plan from being approved by the start of December.
Against that backdrop, as of 1507 GMT the Dow Jones Industrials was bounding back by 163.41 points or 0.69% to 23,433.81, alongside a 0.63% or 16.15 point gain on the S&P 500 to 2,580.77 and a 0.96% or 64.40 point advance for the Nasdaq Composite to 6,770.47.
In terms of the latest 'analyst chatter', on Wednesday SocGen's 'perma-bear', Albert Edwards, told clients: "Investors are beginning to punish the corporate debt and equity of highly indebted US companies. We have highlighted consistently that excess US corporate debt is probably the key area of vulnerability that could bring down the QE inflated pyramid scheme that the central banks have created."
Going the other way, also on Wednesday analysts at UBS set a year-end 2018 target for the S&P 500 of 2,900, arguing, among other things, that markets had yet to price-in the impact of a cut in the corporate tax rate to 25%.
"Upside asymmetry: Base case of 2900; upside is 2x downside and more likely. We target 2900 for the S&P 500 at 2018 YE, based on EPS of $141 (+8%) and modest P/E expansion to 20.6x. The 2017 rally was fuelled by short covering ($83bn) but retail/foreign buyers are driving the last phase of the bull market and allocations to equity are 5-10pp below prior highs," they said.
As far as the latest readings on the US economy were concerned, Thursday's data were a bit of a 'mixed bag', but October's print on industrial production was clearly better-than-expected while the import price figures for that same month contained - according to some analysts - some indications that prices were headed higher.
From a sector standpoint, the best performance was to be seen in the following industry groups: Telecommunicatons (3.81%), Electronic office equipment (3.63%) and Mobile Telecommunications (2.87%).
Powering gains on the Street, Cisco Systems and Wal Mart bounded higher on the back of their latest quarterly figures.
Shares of data storage outfit NetApp surged after the company posted fiscal second quarter earnings of 81 cents a share (consensus: 69 cents) on the back of stronger than forecast revenues.
Rockwell Automation was also well bid after Emerson Electric put in a revised (unsolicited) bid on the industrial automation outfit of $225 a share, up from an initial $215.
Another Wall Street giant, Coca Cola, was higher too as it reaffirmed its guidance on its Investor Day.
Meanwhile, JM Smucker was ahead despite 2018 sales to be down slightly or flat.
Bringing up the rear, stock in Procter&Gamble stock was edging higher after activist investor Nelson Peltz managed to win a seat on the board.
Dow Jones - Risers
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $97.35 8.37%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $36.32 6.49%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $89.25 1.14%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $239.94 0.98%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $170.73 0.98%
Visa Inc. (V) $111.34 0.97%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $69.61 0.93%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $166.91 0.86%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $148.24 0.77%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $168.44 0.67%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $114.92 -1.32%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $80.21 -1.23%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $132.18 -1.16%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $136.39 -0.84%
General Electric Co. (GE) $18.20 -0.33%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $103.42 -0.27%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $83.06 0.09%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $117.74 0.13%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $139.31 0.14%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.20 0.20%
S&P 500 - Risers
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $52.80 15.24%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $97.35 8.37%
J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM) $113.80 6.84%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $36.32 6.49%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $6.99 4.95%
Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK) $197.74 4.77%
Amerisource Bergen Corp. (ABC) $78.91 4.66%
Patterson Companies Inc. (PDCO) $35.99 4.47%
SCANA Corp. (SCG) $46.31 4.36%
Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) $10.02 4.00%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $53.55 -6.56%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $23.33 -5.21%
Advance Auto Parts (AAP) $90.84 -5.10%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class C (DISCK) $15.29 -2.92%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $16.25 -2.84%
Apache Corp. (APA) $40.74 -2.72%
Emerson Electric Co. (EMR) $59.35 -2.30%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $37.02 -2.06%
Church Dwight Co Inc. (CHD) $44.81 -2.03%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $108.27 -1.88%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $326.70 8.01%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $36.32 6.49%
Shire Plc Ads (SHPG) $146.23 4.43%
T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $58.71 3.56%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $106.22 3.18%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $75.69 3.08%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $57.37 2.87%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $61.56 2.51%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $38.59 2.06%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $212.00 1.99%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $23.33 -5.21%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class C (DISCK) $15.29 -2.92%
Discovery Communications Inc. Class A (DISCA) $16.25 -2.84%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. - Ordinary Shares (NCLH) $53.61 -2.65%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $37.02 -2.06%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $108.27 -1.88%
Liberty Global Plc Lilac Class C (LILAK) $21.97 -1.21%
Liberty Global Plc Lilac Class A (LILA) $21.95 -0.99%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $382.83 -0.90%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $30.58 -0.39%
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