(Reuters) – U.S. stocks opened sharply higher on Tuesday as investors rushed to pick up stocks beaten down by the fears and uncertainty surrounding Britain’s decision to exit the European Union.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 117.62 points, or 0.69 percent, at 17,257.86, the S&P 500 was up 14.78 points, or 0.74 percent, at 2,015.32 and the Nasdaq composite was up 50.67 points, or 1.1 percent, at 4,645.11.
(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru)
By Abhiram Nandakumar
(Reuters) – U.S. stock indexes were flat on Friday after poor quarterly reports from technology bellwethers Microsoft and Alphabet outweighed gains from steadying oil prices.
Microsoft was the biggest drag on all three major indexes.
Crude rose about 1 percent on signs of strong gasoline consumption in the United States. [O/R]
With recent economic data indicating a sluggish pace of economic growth globally and crude prices hovering near five-month highs, earnings have become a swing factor for stocks.
The S&P 500 has staged a sharp recovery from a steep selloff earlier this year and is inching toward its all-time high, helped by a recent rebound in oil, a cautious Federal Reserve and companies beating tempered expectations.
The index is up half a percent for the week, having posted gains on the first three days.
“We’re back to the every other day theory, bouncing around a little, but I don’t see too strong a sentiment either way,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
“It’s still a very cautious environment,” Brown said, adding that the negative tone from the quarterly reports were expected.
At 9:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 11.91 points, or 0.07 percent, at 17,994.43, the S&P 500 was down 1.52 points, or 0.07 percent, at 2,089.96 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 35.84 points, or 0.72 percent, at 4,910.05.
Eight of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, but the index was under pressure by a 1.4 percent decline in the technology sector
Alphabet and Microsoft were down 3.7 and 6.5 percent respectively after both missed profit and revenue estimates.
S&P 500 companies are seen posting a 7.2 percent fall in first-quarter profit, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, and shares of companies failing to beat the already lowered expectations are getting hammered.
McDonald’s rose 0.7 percent to $126.63 after the company’s profit beat estimates.
General Electric was off 1.1 percent at $30.63 after it reported lower organic revenue.
Caterpillar shares were down 0.6 percent at $78.16 after its results.
Starbucks slipped 3 percent after missing sales expectations, while Visa was down 2.3 percent after it cut full-year revenue forecast.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,885 to 761. On the Nasdaq, 1,460 issues rose and 740 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed six new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 19 new highs and six lows.
(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
(Reuters) – U.S. stocks began 2016 sharply lower on Monday, with the Dow marking its worst start to a year since 2008, after weak Chinese economic data fanned fears of a global slowdown.
Indexes partly recovered late in the session, following a turnaround in oil prices that caused energy shares to cut losses. At its low for the day, the Dow was down 467 points and was headed for its worst first-day percentage drop since 1932.
Surveys showed factory activity in the world’s second-largest economy shrank sharply in December, sparking a 7-percent slide in Chinese shares that triggered a trading halt. Adding to investors’ worries, China’s central bank fixed the yuan at a 4-1/2 year low, further weakening it against the dollar.
U.S. data sparked further concern as factory activity weakened unexpectedly in December, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
“There was the turmoil overnight overseas that kind of set the tone … (but) all of the negatives out there have been out there for a while,” said Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich, Connecticut.
“The fact that we closed down on the year, the Fed tightened, it crystallized in investors’ minds that we’re not in the environment we were in throughout most of the recovery.”
The selloff was widespread but not as deep as the slide caused by worries of a China-led global slowdown in August, when the Dow tumbled more than 1,000 points at one point.
Nasdaq led the day’s decline and Amazon <AMZN.O>, down 5.8 percent at $636.99, weighed the most on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, while the Nasdaq Biotech Index <NBI> dropped 3.2 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average <DJI> closed down 276.09 points, or 1.58 percent, to 17,148.94, the S&P 500 <SPX> lost 31.28 points, or 1.53 percent, to 2,012.66 and the Nasdaq Composite <IXIC> dropped 104.32 points, or 2.08 percent, to 4,903.09.
Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq had their worst starts to a year since 2001.
All 10 S&P sectors ended lower, but the energy index <SPNY> was down the least, with a loss of just 0.2 percent.
Crude oil ended a volatile session down slightly following concern about Middle East tensions, but Brent turned higher late.
Tesla <TSLA.O> fell 6.9 percent to $223.41. The electric car maker delivered 17,400 vehicles in the fourth quarter, just above the low end of its guidance.
About 8.5 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, above the 7.2 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,127 to 977, for a 2.18-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 2,202 issues fell and 652 advanced for a 3.38-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week highs and 14 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 12 new highs and 113 new lows.
(Additional reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Nick Zieminski)
The Dow Industrial Average fell 160 points Monday morning (1.2%) over concerns of economic instability in Europe and China.
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