U.S. Stocks Open Higher as Earnings Season Kicks Off
16 October 2019 - 1:28AM
Dow Jones News
By Anna Isaac
U.S. stocks climbed Tuesday as investors seeking fresh insights
into the health of the economy began reviewing third-quarter
earnings reports from big companies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 144 points, or 0.5%, and
the S&P 500 rose 0.5%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.6%.
The early reports from big banks brought mixed news. Shares in
JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank by assets, rose 1.6%
after the banking giant beat profit expectations. But Goldman Sachs
Group shares dropped 3.3% after the bank reported a drop in
profit.
Shares of UnitedHealth Group, meanwhile, rose 5.6% after the
company boosted its profit guidance for the year.
As investors continue to look for fresh signs about the future
course of interest rates, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
President James Bullard said Tuesday in London that the U.S.
Federal Reserve could cut its key interest rate again to cushion
the economy against threats to growth. The U.S. economy is slowing
and faces a number of "downside risks" that could require a further
"insurance" move from policy makers, Mr. Bullard said.
The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury fell to 1.715%, from
1.748% Friday. The bond market was closed Monday for Columbus
Day.
Meanwhile, equities across Europe posted tepid gains as
investors continued to try to assess the probability of the U.S.
and China ending the trade war after both sides said last week that
they'd made progress toward a partial deal. The pan-continental
Stoxx Europe 600 gauge rose 0.5%.
"Markets are fairly muted because this should actually be viewed
as a cease-fire rather than a deal," said Edward Park, deputy chief
investment officer at Brooks Macdonald Asset Management. The only
major progress was that the U.S. shelved additional tariffs that
had been scheduled to go into place this week, he said.
In Asia, Chinese stocks fell as fresh economic data added to
concerns about weaker growth prospects and the government's ability
to strike a trade agreement with the U.S.
The Shanghai Composite gauge dropped 0.6% as official data
showed inflation reached a near six-year high last month, driven by
rising pork prices. This comes amid signs of slowing growth and
trade tensions for the world's second-largest economy.
"China's not going to change its core economic policy to placate
Washington, be it on intellectual property or similar," said Rory
Green, an economist at investment research firm T.S. Lombard. "They
are accepting slower growth, they are not going to do a big credit
stimulus as we've seen in the past; markets are slowly realizing
that."
In commodities, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, dropped
0.6%.
Karen Langley contributed to this article.
Write to Anna Isaac at anna.isaac@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 15, 2019 10:13 ET (14:13 GMT)
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