US close: Markets mixed ahead of post-Florence jobless claims
Wall Street trading ended on a mixed note on Wednesday, as the Dow moved closer to an all-time high, despite trade tensions between the US and China that were still weighing heavily on sentiment.
Dow Jones I.A.
37,775.38
04:30 15/10/20
Nasdaq 100
17,394.31
12:15 18/04/24
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session ahead 0.61% at 26,405.76 and the S&P 500 added 0.13% to 2,907.95, while the Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.05% to 7,490.32.
Earlier, the Dow had jumped more than 100 points at the opening bell, as the broader market appeared to be shaking-off worries about the Sino-US trade conflict to an extent.
The blue-chip benchmark was less than 1% short of its all-time high of 26,616.71.
Market watchers were already looking ahead to Thursday’s initial jobless claims report, with Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson saying it was still too early for Hurricane Florence to be having much of effect on the data.
“Jobless claims likely will rise sharply, though briefly, in the wake of Hurricane Florence, but we don't expect to see the hit in [Thursday’s] report,” Shepherdson said.
“When people are running away from a hurricane, filing a jobless claim tends not to be at the top of their list of priorities.”
He was expecting to see claims at around 210,000, up “trivially” from 203,000 last week and close to Pantheon’s estimate of the underlying trend.
“Next week, we expect to see claims jumping to about 230,000 - a visible hit but much less than the 56,000 jump in the week after Hurricane Harvey struck Houston.”
Sentiment in the US was also apparently shrugging off China’s latest retaliation against Trump's 10% levy on another $200bn of Chinese imports - which could rise to 25% in the New Year - with new trade tariffs on $60bn of US goods.
Trump responded to that by repeating his threat to raise tariffs on another $267bn of Chinese imports.
However, there was some good news on the geopolitical front as North Korea said it would close a key missile test facility and potentially destroy its primary nuclear complex if the US agreed to corresponding measures.
After two days of talks, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to a number of non-military announcements, including plans to create rail and road links between the two Koreas within the next year and to submit a joint bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics.
On the data front, homebuilding in the States picked-up substantially last month, but a key forward-looking indicator fell short of analysts' forecasts.
According to the Department of Commerce, US housing starts shot up by 9.2% month-on-month in August to reach an annualised clip of 1.282m, led by activity in the West and Midwest.
That was well ahead of the 1.225m pace which economists had pencilled-in.
Nevertheless, starts for single-family homes were up by a tamer 1.9% month-on-month to 876,000.
Housing permits on the other hand, which tend to lead the data on starts, declined by 5.7% versus July to reach 1.229m, just below consensus forecasts for 1.30m.
Elsewhere, America's current account deficit with the rest of the world narrowed more quickly than expected during the second quarter.
Over the three months to June, the shortfall declined from -$121.7bn in the first quarter to -$101.5bn for the three months to June, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The main driver behind the improvement was a $17.6bn reduction in America's deficit on its foreign trade in goods and a $2.5bn increase in its surplus on services.
In corporate news, Tilray rocketed 38.12% following stellar gains on Tuesday after the US Drug Enforcement Administration approved the company's request to export medical marijuana.
Electric car maker Tesla was up 4.93% despite a report circulating that the company was being investigated by the US Department of Justice over statements that it and founder Elon Musk made last month about going private.
Elsewhere, Red Hat reversed earlier losses to close ahead 0.32%, and Herman Miller was up 0.54% after beating first quarter earnings and revenue estimates.
Dow Jones - Risers
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $235.58 2.92%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $117.64 2.90%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $152.76 2.48%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $84.57 1.20%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $119.51 1.16%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $68.73 1.01%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $159.18 0.89%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $132.50 0.86%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $265.34 0.77%
3M Co. (MMM) $213.12 0.75%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $53.50 -1.64%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $111.70 -1.33%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $84.43 -0.97%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $69.98 -0.62%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $43.26 -0.57%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $47.28 -0.38%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $95.24 -0.20%
Visa Inc. (V) $147.42 -0.14%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $140.46 -0.06%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $84.01 0.00%
S&P 500 - Risers
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $5.51 6.37%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $17.19 5.07%
Borg Warner Inc. (BWA) $45.13 5.00%
Newfield Exploration Co (NFX) $28.91 4.41%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $4.29 4.12%
Praxair Inc. (PX) $164.37 3.92%
E*TRADE Financial Corp. (ETFC) $55.78 3.76%
Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $12.36 3.60%
Legg Mason Inc. (LM) $31.74 3.42%
Citigroup Inc. (C) $73.72 3.28%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) $109.70 -4.88%
Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) $80.53 -4.08%
Andeavor (ANDV) $150.26 -3.54%
Phillips 66 Common Stock (PSX) $109.35 -3.48%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $220.88 -3.20%
DTE Energy Co. (DTE) $109.09 -3.03%
Robert Half International Inc. (RHI) $70.00 -2.88%
FirstEnergy Corp. (FE) $36.80 -2.83%
Equifax Inc. (EFX) $134.31 -2.71%
SCANA Corp. (SCG) $34.91 -2.65%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $299.02 4.93%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $26.92 4.54%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $226.41 4.39%
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $38.73 3.42%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $204.70 2.86%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $88.86 2.36%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $107.37 2.34%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $135.73 2.08%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $41.60 1.99%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $163.06 1.72%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $220.88 -3.20%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $264.88 -2.18%
Workday, Inc. (WDAY) $140.66 -2.10%
Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $119.84 -1.93%
Cintas Corp. (CTAS) $210.82 -1.89%
Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $240.90 -1.76%
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) $130.57 -1.62%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $379.94 -1.56%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $556.47 -1.48%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $111.70 -1.33%