Yahoo Finance Stock Market News For Jul 16, 2017
Markets closed higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 posting its highest close in more than five months. The Dow too reclaimed its 25,000 mark for the first time in almost a month. The rally was led by tech and industrial stocks, which offset a decline in financial stocks, as results from three of the major banks failed to boost investors’ confidence.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.4%, to close at 25,019.41. The S&P 500 increased 0.1% to close at 2,801.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 7, 825.98.30, increasing less than 0.1%. A total of 5.3 billion shares were traded on Friday, lower than the last 20-session average of 6.6 billion shares. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.01-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.22-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.
How did the Benchmark Perform?
The Dow gained 94.52 points, with shares of United Technologies Corporation UTX and Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. WBA soaring 1.7% and 2%, respectively. The Dow close above the 25,000 mark for the first time since Jun 15. United Technologies Corporation has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The S&P 500 added 3.02 points, lead by a rally in energy and industrial stocks. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) and Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI) gained 0.5% each. Also, the S&P 500 closed above the 2,800 mark for the first time since Feb 1. The tech heavy Nasdaq gained 2.06 points. However, despite a meager gain, the index managed to close at a fresh all-time high.
For the week, the Nasdaq closed 1.8% higher, while the Dow and S&P 500 gained 2.3% and 1.5% respectively. This was also the best week for Dow since early June.
Banks Stocks Decline, Energy and Industrials Gain
The earnings season has begun and three major banks JPMorgan Chase and Co JPM, Wells Fargo & Company WFC and Citigroup Inc. C kicked off proceedings for the banking sector. JPMorgan and Citigroup both beat earnings and revenue estimates, while Well Fargo missed on earnings. A flattening yield curve has been a growing concern for banks, which has been denting investors’ confidence. This saw bank shares taking a hit on Friday. Shares of Citigroup, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo declined 2.2%, 0.5% and 1.2%, respectively.
However, a rally in energy and industrial stocks helped pare the losses on Friday, with the Dow closing above the 25,000 mark after almost a month. Shares of Boeing BA jumped 1.4%, while Caterpillar Inc. CAT and 3M Company MMM rose 1% and 0.9%, respectively.
Tech Stocks Once Again Rally
Tech stocks have been helping markets for a while now. On Friday, all major tech stocks once again rallied. Facebook, Inc. FB, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Microsoft Corporation MSFT jumped 0.2%, 0.9% and 1.2%, respectively. This saw the S&P 500 closing at its highest level since Feb 1.
Weekly Round Up
It was one of the better weeks for markets in a long time. Markets closed higher on four of the five trading sessions, as trade war fears failed to dent investors’ confidence. However, Trump’s fresh threat of imposing tariffs on another $200 billion worth of goods, saw investors panicking on Wednesday, which led to huge selloffs.
That said markets bounced back once again on Thursday as techs tocks once again rallied. Moreover, Market participants are expecting strong showing by American corporates as second-quarter earnings season slowly gathering steam. This helped in reinstating investors’ confidence that saw markets ending sharply higher last week.
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Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report
The Boeing Company (BA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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United Technologies Corporation (UTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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