US open: Stocks open higher as earnings continue to roll in
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Tuesday 16 Apr 2019
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street trading began on a positive note on Tuesday as investors thumbed over more key earnings, including those from banking giant Bank of America.
At 1600 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.13% at 26,420.14, while the S&P 500 traded 0.12% firmer at 2,909.08 and the Nasdaq Composite moved ahead 0.35% at 8,003.68.
BoA shares dipped 0.038% in early trading following the release of its first-quarter results, a day after numbers from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup left investors disappointed.
Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM, said: "Market expectations over this quarterly reporting season being the weakest in three years has left investors wondering how much upside remains for stocks.
"For proper context, the S&P500 is still just less than 1% away from its record high, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index has already climbed by some 11% so far in 2019. Even as the catalyst to drive risk sentiment over the near-term revolves around the current US earnings season, equity bulls may have to turn their attention elsewhere to find reasons to send stocks higher."
Elsewhere, Johnson & Johnson shares were up 2.61% at the bell after its first-quarter update, while stock in UnitedHealth was down 1.97% despite the health insurer's first-quarter earnings and revenue coming in ahead of analysts' expectations and lifting its profit outlook for the year.
US bank BlackRock picked up 2.26% at the open after reporting its best quarter in four years.
Netflix is slated to report after the close, along with IBM.
On the macroeconomic calendar, US manufacturing output remained flat last month after two consecutive months of declines, leading to the biggest quarterly decrease since 2017.
The Federal Reserve revealed that manufacturing production in March was held back by weak automotive and timber products output. February's figures were revised up to reflect output at factories dropping 0.3 %.
Economists had forecast manufacturing output edging up 0.1% in March.
Factory production dropped at a 1.1% annualized rate in the first quarter - the first quarterly drop since Q3 2017.
Elsewhere, US homebuilder confidence in the market for new single-family homes moved ahead in April. The seasonally adjusted National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index grew to 63 last month from 62 in March.
"Builders report solid demand for new single-family homes, but they are also grappling with affordability concerns stemming from a chronic shortage of construction workers and buildable lots," said NAHB chairman Greg Ugald.
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