US close: Stocks finish higher as Walmart surpasses first-quarter expectations
Wall Street trading finished in the green on Thursday, extending their gains from a decent session on Wednesday.
Dow Jones I.A.
38,460.92
04:30 15/10/20
Nasdaq 100
17,526.80
12:15 24/04/24
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.84% at 25,862.68, the S&P 500 added 0.89% to 2,876.32, and the Nasdaq 100 was 1.02% firmer at 7,580.14.
At the open, the Dow was 193 points higher as trade tensions remained in focus, after the Department of Commerce announced the addition of Huawei Technologies to the Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List.
That made it more difficult for the Chinese telecommunications giant to conduct business with American firms.
Donald Trump went as far as to declare a national emergency on Wednesday before banning Huawei and ZTE from selling their equipment in the US, claiming they posed "unacceptable risks".
Elsewhere, CNBC reported that Trump planned to postpone auto tariffs on the EU by as much as six months.
The White House faces a Saturday deadline to decide whether to slap duties on car and auto part imports over national security concerns.
“The experience of a trade war with China hasn’t deterred the Trump administration from this hostile and potentially damaging method of improving trade terms between the US and its partners,” said Oanda's Craig Erlam earlier.
“While we can all breathe a sigh of relief that we’re not going to see trade wars on multiple fronts, the battle has merely been postponed.”
On the data front, one of the most closely-followed lead indicators of joblessness in the US surprised to the downside on Thursday.
According to the Department of Labor, initial US jobless claims fell by 16,000 over the week ending on 11 May to reach 212,000.
Economists had pencilled in a reading of 220,000.
Residential construction activity in the States picked up more quickly than expected last month but remained below year-ago levels and there were signs of continued caution among homebuilders.
The Department of Commerce said that US housing starts increased by 5.7% month-on-month in April to reach an annualised pace of 1.235m.
Economists had penciled-in a clip of 1.218m.
Housing permits meanwhile edged up by 0.6% versus March to reach 1.296m, against consensus expectations for 1.295m, with the March print having also been revised higher, from 1.269m to 1.288m.
Elsewhere, manufacturing sector conditions in the US mid-Atlantic region perked up in May, according to the results of a key survey, although some of the details were a bit soft.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's factory sector index rose from a reading of 8.5 for April to 16.6 in May, compared to consensus forecasts for 10.0.
In corporate news, Walmart saw first-quarter earnings come in ahead of expectations on the Street but fell short on revenues on Thursday.
The world's largest retailer turned in adjusted earnings per share of $1.13, surpassing analysts' expectations of $1.02.
While revenues came in at $123.9bn, compared to estimates of $124.94bn, Walmart's closely followed comparable sales number came in at 3.4%, marking the firm's best first-quarter performance in nine years.
Its shares ended 1.4% higher.
Dow Jones - Risers
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $55.93 6.66%
Boeing Co. (BA) $353.81 2.36%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $30.79 2.33%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $128.93 2.31%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $79.13 2.04%
American Express Co. (AXP) $119.85 1.85%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $101.31 1.43%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $199.14 1.40%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $108.11 1.32%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $111.34 1.28%
Dow Jones - Fallers
3M Co. (MMM) $171.81 -1.33%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $120.77 -1.10%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $126.61 -0.54%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $52.50 -0.46%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $190.08 -0.44%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $45.53 -0.20%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $76.36 -0.01%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $236.78 0.30%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $84.28 0.32%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $192.43 0.32%
S&P 500 - Risers
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $55.93 6.66%
Linde Plc (LIN) $187.68 3.75%
Mettler Toledo International (MTD) $744.60 3.59%
Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) $304.71 3.47%
Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) $52.86 3.26%
Mohawk Inds Inc. (MHK) $140.31 3.19%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $69.69 2.80%
Flowserve Corp. (FLS) $51.15 2.77%
Transdigm Group Inc. (TDG) $464.99 2.76%
Fortinet Inc. (FTNT) $83.24 2.70%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) $31.34 -7.55%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $106.13 -7.27%
Qorvo, Inc. (QRVO) $68.11 -7.14%
Smith A O Corp. (AOS) $45.12 -6.27%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $73.99 -6.04%
Ipg Photonics Corp. (IPGP) $138.01 -5.20%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $82.81 -4.00%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $104.70 -2.96%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $37.31 -2.86%
CenturyLink Inc. (CTL) $10.65 -2.74%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $55.93 6.66%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $279.11 6.51%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $13.31 4.39%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $595.73 3.98%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $212.00 3.42%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $89.67 2.88%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $123.17 2.45%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $283.55 2.43%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $131.40 2.33%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $128.93 2.31%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $106.13 -7.27%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $73.99 -6.04%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $82.81 -4.00%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $104.70 -2.96%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $37.31 -2.86%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $297.29 -2.33%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $228.33 -1.56%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $108.78 -1.42%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $15.87 -1.18%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $109.21 -0.98%