US close: Stocks finish mixed amid more corporate earnings
Wall Street finished in a mixed state on Wednesday, with more corporate earnings and comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in focus.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.29% at 34,230.34, while the S&P 500 eked out gains of 0.07% to 4,167.59, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.37% to 13,582.42.
The Dow closed 97.31 points higher on Wednesday, reversing gains recorded yesterday in what was an otherwise losing session for major indices.
Comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that an interest rate hike was neither something she was "predicting or recommending" were lending some support to stocks after a previous statement that "it may be that interest rates have to rise somewhat" in order to stop the US' post-covid economy from overheating had panicked investors.
On the macro front, weekly mortgage applications fell 0.9% in the seven days ended 30 April, according to the Mortgage Bankers' Association, as the average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances moved ever so slightly higher to 3.18% from 3.17%.
Elsewhere, US private payrolls grew by 742,000 in April, according to the ADP's national employment report, while data for March was revised higher to show 565,000 jobs being added - a further improvement on the initially reported figure of 517,000.
However, Wednesday's number was still short of economists' expectations for a print of 800,000.
The ISM's non-manufacturing PMI for April dropped to 62.7, down from 63.7 and below expectation for a print of 64.3, with business activity/production dropping 6.7 to 62.7 and new orders slipping 4.0 to 63.2 as employment rose 1.6 to 58.8 and prices increased 2.8 to 76.8.
Lastly, IHS Markit's services purchasing managers index came in at 64.7 for April, ahead of the projected reading of 63.3.
In equities, earnings from Activision Blizzard and Lyft were in focus, with the video games developer stock jumping 1.57% after beating quarterly earnings expectations, while the ride-hailing firm slumped 6.34%% despite posting some better-than-expected earnings overnight.
Elsewhere, General Motors jumped 4.05% after saying it expected a “strong” first half despite flagging production disruptions as a result of a global shortage of semiconductor chips.
Hotel operator Hilton Worldwide was off 4.09%, meanwhile, after missing quarterly earnings per share and revenue estimates in its most recent set of results.
Dow Jones - Risers
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $68.07 2.79%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $108.96 2.69%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $77.70 2.25%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $357.62 2.22%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $237.88 1.92%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $157.52 1.31%
American Express Co. (AXP) $156.39 1.20%
3M Co. (MMM) $201.44 1.03%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $51.11 0.83%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $249.35 0.80%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Boeing Co. (BA) $228.18 -2.33%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $181.51 -1.49%
Visa Inc. (V) $229.35 -1.22%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $215.40 -0.82%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $133.46 -0.80%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $246.47 -0.53%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $167.04 -0.42%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $145.15 -0.36%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $54.00 -0.26%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $332.05 -0.22%
S&P 500 - Risers
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $25.23 7.59%
Under Armour, Inc. (UA) $21.13 7.15%
Under Armour Inc. Class A (UAA) $25.53 6.91%
Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) $30.34 6.87%
PerkinElmer Inc. (PKI) $136.57 6.85%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $41.54 5.92%
ConocoPhillips (COP) $55.44 5.46%
Borg Warner Inc. (BWA) $51.12 5.40%
National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) $16.40 5.40%
Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN) $33.67 5.09%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $172.63 -8.43%
Amerisource Bergen Corp. (ABC) $118.87 -5.59%
Hilton Inc (HLT) $122.62 -4.39%
HollyFrontier Corp (HFC) $34.68 -4.25%
Apartment Investment & Management Co. (AIV) $6.62 -4.06%
Sl Green Realty Corp. (SLG) $71.39 -4.03%
Ventas Inc. (VTR) $53.30 -3.70%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $45.44 -3.69%
Western Union Co. (WU) $24.98 -3.36%
Welltower Inc (WELL) $72.64 -3.02%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $134.13 4.40%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $127.81 2.78%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $11.78 2.43%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $19.76 2.17%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $641.88 2.05%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $68.58 1.93%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $54.18 1.67%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $90.08 1.57%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $94.52 1.53%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $181.65 1.46%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $172.63 -8.43%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $128.72 -2.48%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $569.25 -2.22%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $195.63 -2.18%
Marriott International - Class A (MAR) $144.51 -2.10%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $67.56 -1.97%
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $2,337.92 -1.89%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $173.61 -1.65%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $94.45 -1.55%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $170.92 -1.46%