US close: Markets reverse earlier losses to finish in the green
US stocks recovered from a poor open to finish green on Tuesday, as investors digested a disappointing quarterly update from streaming giant Netflix and a Congressional testimony from Fed chair Jerome Powell.
Dow Jones I.A.
38,280.85
04:30 15/10/20
Nasdaq 100
17,678.71
05:05 26/04/24
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.22% at 25,119.89, the S&P 500 was ahead 0.4% at 2,809.55, and the Nasdaq 100 managed gains of 0.63% to 7,403.89.
As far Powell's testimony was concerned, the chair's semi-annual Monetary Policy Testimony broke no new ground, according to Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
However, Shepherdson noted that Powell's use of "for now", when stating that the Fed expects to keep raising rates "gradually", could be seen as opening the door to more dramatic action down the road if inflation rises much above the target.
"Powell has made it very clear that a modest overshoot won't trigger panic at the Fed, emphasizing again that the target is 'symmetric' and that only inflation 'persistently' above or below the target would make the FOMC 'concerned'," said Shepherdson.
Powell remained bullish on growth, specifically pointing out that the Fed realises that second-quarter GDP was "much stronger" than the first, but made no reference to the possible impact of business tax cuts on future growth or productivity.
On the data front, US industrial production increased in June, driven by a sharp rebound in manufacturing and mining output.
The Federal Reserve revealed that industrial production had risen 0.6% last month after a downwardly revised 0.5% decline in May.
With production increasing solidly, capacity utilization, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, increased to 78.0% from 77.7% in May, just 1.8% below its 1972-to-2017 average.
Elsewhere, builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes held steady as at 68 in July, according to the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index, falling just short of economists' predictions of 69 reading.
In corporate movements, tech stocks were under pressure earlier trading after a miss from Netflix overnight, which saw the company undershoot subscriber growth by 1m users in its latest quarter.
Netflix clawed back some of its losses to finish down 5.24%, after the streaming company said late on Monday that it added 5.2m subscribers in the three months to the end of June, in line with the same period a year ago and below its own forecast for growth of 6.2m.
The group said in a statement that it had had a "strong but not stellar" second quarter.
Johnson & Johnson was up 3.54% after reporting second-quarter earnings and revenue ahead of expectations, while UnitedHealth lost 2.65% after posting a premiums miss.
CSX Corp rose 0.69% and United Continental was 0.5% higher, both companies having reported later in the day.
Dow Jones - Risers
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $129.06 3.50%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $67.06 2.04%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $130.71 1.34%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $45.27 1.21%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $201.10 1.12%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $105.95 0.99%
Visa Inc. (V) $139.68 0.88%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $37.67 0.78%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $80.05 0.65%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $138.96 0.63%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $250.34 -2.58%
General Electric Co. (GE) $13.68 -1.58%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $143.49 -1.35%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $121.94 -0.87%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $51.75 -0.50%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $42.34 -0.38%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $77.47 -0.36%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $51.44 -0.29%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $82.33 -0.19%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $231.07 -0.18%
S&P 500 - Risers
Perrigo Company plc (PRGO) $78.03 3.98%
Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) $52.88 3.56%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $129.06 3.50%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $45.92 3.24%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $177.24 3.17%
PPG Industries Inc. (PPG) $105.42 2.98%
Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS) $225.42 2.95%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $43.22 2.95%
Brown Forman Corp. Class B (BF.B) $52.65 2.87%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $55.55 2.78%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) $70.71 -9.46%
Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (IPG) $22.26 -6.08%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $379.48 -5.24%
GameStop Corp. (GME) $14.58 -4.20%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $19.45 -3.81%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $28.58 -3.74%
Iron Mountain Inc (New) (IRM) $35.04 -3.63%
Discovery Inc. Class A (DISCA) $26.38 -3.55%
Discovery Inc. Class C (DISCK) $24.60 -2.96%
Transocean Ltd. (RIG) $12.72 -2.90%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $359.80 4.82%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $322.69 4.06%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $177.24 3.17%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $208.31 2.49%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $370.53 2.28%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $253.69 2.21%
DENTSPLY Sirona Inc. (XRAY) $45.70 2.19%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $47.30 2.14%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $204.34 2.13%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $101.69 1.93%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $379.48 -5.24%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $31.78 -2.99%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $34.27 -2.00%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $23.88 -1.40%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $79.88 -1.30%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $253.08 -0.95%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $302.03 -0.71%
T-Mobile Us, Inc. (TMUS) $61.21 -0.68%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $164.96 -0.64%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $266.42 -0.62%