US open: Bank earnings boost Wall Street
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Wednesday 16 Jan 2019
(Sharecast News) - US stocks are managing to eke out small gains on Wednesday on the back of better-than-expected bank earnings from the likes of Bank of America and Goldman Sachs and the latest Brexit news from across the pond.
At 1604 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead by 0.43% or 103.81 points at 24,170.53, alongside a gain of 0.22% or 5.55 points to 2,615.45 for the S&P 500, while the Nasdaq Composite was up by 0.18% or 12.49 points to 7,036.15.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "Attention may be primarily on Brexit in Europe but over in the US, earnings season is upon us and investors will be eyeing results for signs of weakness at a time when the global economy is expected to slow, fiscal stimulus is fading and some major companies - including Apple - are reporting difficulties.
"The trade war with China may not have massively taken its toll yet but it may start to show itself in the upcoming results and/or guidance."
Brexit developments in the UK were in focus after Prime Minister Theresa May lost the 'meaningful vote' on her deal by a record margin of 432 to 202 on Tuesday, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a vote of no confidence in the government.
May said that if her government wins the confidence motion this evening, which is expected after the DUP and hardline Brexiteers guaranteed their backing, she will then open up Brexit negotiations to a cross-party approach. She will have until the end of next Monday to put forward a 'plan B' on Brexit.
On home turf, the government shutdown was into its 26th day as President Trump and the Democrats remained at loggerheads over funding for his Mexico border wall.
In corporate news, Bank of America shares jumped after its fourth-quarter profit came in above expectations and were again to be seen near the top of the leaderboard of most active issues on the NYSE.
BlackRock was stronger too as the asset manager's quarterly earnings and revenue missed forecasts, while Ford slipped 0.9% as its fourth-quarter profit fell short of forecasts.
BNY Mellon and Goldman Sachs were also higher following their own earnings, while results from Alcoa were due after the close.
Goldman Sachs posted a big jump in profits at the tail-end of 2018 despite lacklustre trading activity.
For the three months to December, Goldman saw its bottom-line increase to $2.54bn, versus a loss of $5.51bn in the year-ago period, for earnings per share of $6.04 (consensus: $4.53).
Meanwhile, in the economics patch, US import prices fell at a month-on-month pace of 1.0% in December (consensus: -1.3%), but the shortfall versus economists' forecasts was made up for by upwards revisions to the data for November.
With positive implications for risk appetite, the NAHB's index of homebuilder confidence added two points last month to reach 58.0.
Dow Jones - Risers
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $190.24 6.45%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $259.56 4.64%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $75.39 2.75%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $77.86 2.33%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $96.04 1.15%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $102.06 1.11%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $154.54 0.96%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $55.56 0.95%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $72.28 0.68%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $42.65 0.65%
Dow Jones - Fallers
3M Co. (MMM) $189.18 -1.56%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $57.33 -1.21%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $176.96 -1.03%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $111.45 -0.86%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $43.84 -0.41%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $111.32 -0.36%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $130.38 -0.23%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $180.91 -0.17%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $48.56 -0.08%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $71.59 -0.06%
S&P 500 - Risers
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $28.17 6.81%
United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) $86.69 6.76%
Teradata Corp. (TDC) $42.71 6.54%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $190.24 6.45%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $22.32 6.29%
Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) $7.41 6.15%
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) $157.95 5.66%
Blackrock Inc. (BLK) $416.43 5.05%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $2.87 5.00%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $259.56 4.64%
S&P 500 - Fallers
PG&E Corp. (PCG) $6.57 -21.60%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $43.96 -7.02%
Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $69.87 -6.89%
Edison International (EIX) $54.99 -5.43%
Ryder System Inc. (R) $52.63 -5.21%
Ford Motor Co. (F) $8.59 -4.45%
Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW) $383.32 -3.64%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $60.23 -3.57%
Masco Corp. (MAS) $31.31 -3.50%
Tapestry Inc. (TPR) $34.99 -3.20%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $112.21 4.12%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $202.91 4.03%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $33.11 3.15%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $251.32 1.74%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $22.26 1.55%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $96.29 1.43%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $21.71 1.40%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $52.28 1.14%
Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $197.93 0.98%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $347.79 0.98%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $69.87 -6.89%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $86.94 -2.85%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $76.82 -2.46%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $341.70 -2.40%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $46.05 -1.69%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $104.81 -1.58%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $350.40 -1.20%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $115.36 -1.17%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $162.66 -1.10%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $147.44 -1.01%
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN