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US stocks edges up, led by energy shares

April 14, 2015 By Carrie Davis Leave a Comment

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average moved higher on Tuesday, backed by the energy stocks and reports of March-quarter earnings that topped the modest expectations of the economists but did minimal to lower the concerns about the strong US dollar.

Shares of Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other energy firms followed crude higher after a forecast that May’s US shale oil output would record its first monthly fall in over four years. The S&P 500 energy index surged 1.95 percent.

Johnson & Johnson slashed its full-year forecast on the grounds of the impact of a strong greenback, even though the adjusted earnings topped the expectations. The shares of the Dow component gained 0.29 percent.

Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at New York-based Solaris Group, said, “Expectations are low, primarily because of economic weakness during the first quarter related to weather, the strong dollar, the West Coast dock strike and oil prices.”

At 1:02 pm, the S&P 500 edged up 3.42 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,095.85 and the Dow Jones industrial average surged 78.46 points, or 0.44 percent, to 18,055.5. The Nasdaq Composite declined 15.63 points, or 0.31 percent, to 4,972.62.

The shares of Chevron jumped 1.97 percent, while Exxon’s shares increased 2.22 percent.

The shares of Alcatel increased 12.18 percent to USD 4.88, while the US shares of Nokia dropped 4.21 percent to USD 7.95.

On the NYSE, the advancing issues outnumbered the declining ones by 1,842 to 1,099, for a 1.68-to-1 ratio. 1,404 issues dropped and 1,211 advanced, for a 1.16-to-1 ratio favoring decliners on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 was recording three new 52-week highs and no new lows. On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite was posting 57 new highs and 22 new lows.

US stocks close lower as first-quarter earnings concern deepen

April 13, 2015 By Stephen Kenwright Leave a Comment

The stocks at the Wall Street declined on Monday amid rising fears of poor US first-quarter earnings due to the strong dollar and lower prices of crude oil.

Nine out of the 10 S&P 500 sectors dropped, led by a 1.1 percent drop in S&P industrials. General Electric shares declined 3.1 percent to USD 27.63 after rallying on Friday, when the company said that it has the potential to return over USD 90 billion to the investors by 2018. 3M Co shares fell 0.7 percent at USD 165.84.

The greenback was last up 0.1 percent compared to a basket of major currencies after hitting a 99.99 peak. This was the highest level recorded in four weeks period. A stronger dollar tends to hurt the profits for the American multinationals. The crude oil in the United States edged higher but significant losses since last year have weighed on the results of the energy companies.

John Carey, portfolio manager at Boston-based Pioneer Investment Management, said, “We’re all waiting on earnings, which are going to be coming fast and furious as we move through the week. I think there is some trepidation about what the earnings announcements are going to look like and so investors are cautious.”

According to Carey, most people are hoping for weak earnings due to the strong greenback, reduced crude oil prices and sluggish consumer spending in the country due to the harsh winters.

The S&P 500 fell 0.46 percent, or 9.63 points, to 2,092.43, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.45 percent, or 80.61 points, to 17,977.04. The Nasdaq Composite tumbled 0.15 percent, or 7.73 points, to 4,988.25.

The Nasdaq traded briefly above 5,000, coming within 110 points of its life-time intraday high.

The Nasdaq Composite posted 104 new highs and 24 new lows, while the S&P 500 recorded 24 new 52-week highs and no new lows.

Nearly 5.4 billion shares changed hands at the American stock exchanges, below the daily average of 6 billion for the last five sessions, as per BATS Global Markets.

Wall Street stocks surge as energy shares gain

March 23, 2015 By Stephen Kenwright

The stocks at the Wall Street on Monday edged higher after receiving strong gains in major indexes the previous week.

Meanwhile, the investors analysed that the gyrations in the US dollar as well as prices of crude oil may pose threat to their equities.

The stocks of energy sector emerged as the largest gainers as crude prices traded higher as the US dollar weakened further.

The action in the greenback has very closely impacted the stocks of late as traders keenly focused on the Federal Reserve Bank and its much-expected and awaited monetary policy tightening measure sometime later this year.

The 20-day correlation between the S&P 500 and the dollar index stood at -0.79. The dollar index fell 0.7 percent on the day.

Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey, said, “The market has been in a back-and-forth motion for the last couple of weeks, caught between the potential for rising interest rates and its impact on the dollar and the feeling by investors that the economy is gaining some strength.”

At 9:56 am EDT (1356 GMT), the S&P 500 added 2.93 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,111.03 and the Dow Jones industrial average surged 45.61 points, or 0.25 percent, to 18,173.26. On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 10.19 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,016.23.

Dropping for the first time in nine sessions, the Nasdaq Biotech index was down 2.5 percent after running up about 20 percent from its low recorded in February.

On the NYSE, the advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by 1,839 to 958, for a 1.92-to-1 ratio. 1,234 issues dropped, while 1,168 advanced for a 1.06-to-1 ratio supporting decliners on the Nasdaq.

The Nasdaq Composite was posting 67 new highs and 12 new lows, the S&P 500 was recording 41 new 52-week highs and one new low.

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