US close: Markets finish higher as Gulf tensions tighten further

Stocks finished the same colour as they started on Thursday - in the green - as crude oil futures leapt higher as tensions in the Persian Gulf worsened sharply.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session up 0.94% at 26,753.17, the S&P 500 added 0.95% to close at 2,954.18, and the Nasdaq 100 was ahead 0.92% at 7,738.05.

Investors spent much of the session digesting Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s pledge on Wednesday to “do what it takes” to keep the US economic expansion going.

The Fed’s economic projections, published alongside its policy statement, revealed that seven of 17 FOMC members believed two interest rate cuts would be needed in 2019.

"This is nuts,” quipped Neil Wilson of Markets.com.

“The Fed is still not saying it will cut, the risks to trade remain with no end in sight for a deal between the US and China.

“Anyway, the market can stay irrational longer than bears can stay solvent.”

Earlier in the session, the editor of China's Global Times - which is seen by some as a mouthpiece for Beijing - questioned whether China and the US were set to have “new decisive negotiations” in a tweet.

“People around me and myself are less optimistic than we were when two leaders met last December,” the comment on Twitter read.

“I tend to believe Trump's call is a result of fight of Chinese side. More battles may be needed for making the US fairer.”

Crude oil and gold futures were also moving sharply higher, after Iran's Revolutionary Guard apparently shot down a US military drone near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

That prompted the US President to say on his Twitter account that Iran “made a very big mistake!"

Brent crude was last up 4.45% at $64.70 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate added 5.7% to $57.23.

In corporate news, Slack shot up 48.54% on its debut session on the NYSE via a so-called direct listing, having set a reference price of $26 per share for its stock market float, which valued the messaging service at approximately $15.7bn.

Grocery Outlet was also ahead significantly after its debut on Wall Street, rising 29.59% from its initial public offering of $22 a pop, which was far above the $15 to $17 markets had been anticipating less than a week ago.

Shares of cruise line operator Carnival were down 12.00% after the company slashed its full-year outlook, although its fiscal second quarter earnings did come in ahead of analysts' forecasts.

Carnival said that pricing on bookings since March were running below year ago levels, and that a US government ban on cruises to Cuba would cuts its earnings per share by four to six cents.

Full-year earnings per share were now pegged at between $4.25 and $4.35, down from $4.35 to $4.55 before.

Grocery chain Kroger lost 2.18%, despite posting better-than-expected fiscal first quarter earnings and sales.

Total first quarter sales were $37.3bn, down marginally on the $37.7bn recorded a year earlier, following the sale of Kroger’s convenience store business.

Once the impact of that and fuel was stripped out, total sales rose 2%.

Software giant Oracle was ahead 8.18% after the software maker guided towards faster topline growth and a double-digit jump in earnings per share for the financial year 2020.

Dow Jones - Risers

United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $130.03 2.58%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $133.63 2.31%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $57.41 2.28%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $85.24 2.02%
3M Co. (MMM) $173.94 1.87%
Visa Inc. (V) $173.74 1.79%
Boeing Co. (BA) $374.88 1.71%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $76.61 1.71%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $211.25 1.59%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $138.83 1.29%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $247.78 -0.97%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $84.60 -0.89%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $57.34 -0.50%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $52.88 -0.04%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.52 0.00%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $195.70 0.03%
American Express Co. (AXP) $124.92 0.19%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $43.61 0.23%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $110.19 0.25%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $47.19 0.25%

S&P 500 - Risers

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $57.02 8.18%
Noble Energy Inc. (NBL) $21.75 6.15%
HollyFrontier Corp (HFC) $43.65 5.36%
Halliburton Co. (HAL) $22.88 4.91%
Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) $38.24 4.77%
Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) $51.95 4.61%
Baker Hughes, A Ge Company Class A (BHGE) $24.35 4.46%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $21.72 4.37%
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $28.07 4.31%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $128.83 4.09%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Carnival Corp. (CCL) $48.80 -7.65%
Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) $60.72 -3.40%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $32.15 -3.19%
Royal Caribbean Cr (RCL) $118.74 -3.19%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) $52.46 -2.50%
Macerich Co (MAC) $34.12 -2.49%
Twitter Inc (TWTR) $35.44 -2.34%
Kroger Co. (KR) $23.14 -2.16%
H&R Block Inc. (HRB) $28.04 -2.03%
Perrigo Company plc (PRGO) $43.48 -2.01%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $128.83 4.09%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $302.11 3.74%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $320.48 3.10%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $114.76 2.61%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $33.24 2.59%
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $64.17 2.49%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $201.66 2.46%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $169.45 2.31%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $57.41 2.28%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $79.05 2.14%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

American Airlines Group (AAL) $32.15 -3.19%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $219.62 -3.01%
Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) $70.94 -1.55%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $12.62 -1.33%
Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $232.63 -1.05%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $375.87 -0.82%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $636.44 -0.77%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $57.43 -0.55%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $39.92 -0.52%
Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $272.88 -0.51%