US close: Wall Street higher amid renewed tax reform hopes
Wall Street finished higher on Thursday, with the Nasdaq making gains amid a flurry of share buyback announcements in the wider market and another torrid run higher in Bitcoin.
Dow Jones I.A.
38,147.45
04:30 15/10/20
Nasdaq 100
17,468.46
10:25 25/04/24
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.29% at 24,211.48, the S&P 500 was ahead 0.29% as well at 2,636.98, and the Nasdaq 100 added 0.37% to settle at 6,316,28.
“A lot has been made of the recent tech sell-off but it also needs to be put into perspective,” said CMC Markets UK's Michael Hewson earlier in the day.
“Despite recent price falls companies like Facebook, Alphabet, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft are still over 40% higher year to date, and yesterday we did see some light buying return."
Late on Wednesday, the Republican-led Senate agreed to begin formal negotiations with the House of Representatives on tax reform, sparking hopes that the final tax overhaul will be done by the self-imposed deadline of 22 December.
The week before, the House and Senate passed their own versions of the tax reform bill and now both need to agree on a final bill for President Donald Trump to sign.
In corporate news, a few large share buyback announcements were again part of the market landscape, as Edwards Lifesciences, American Tower and Johnson Controls unveiled fresh share repurchase authorisations from their boards.
Stock in Edwards Lifesciences was up 3,61%, while American Tower added 1.63% and Johnson Controls was 0.3% firmer.
SAGE Therapeutics rocketed 70.04% after disclosing positive results from a mid-stage clinical trial for an anti-depression treatment.
General Electric was 0.28% higher after telling investors its power business would cut 12,000 jobs globally.
Discount retailer Dollar General was higher by 2.77%, after posting stronger-than-expected third quarter earnings per share of 98 cents, excluding one-offs, besting the Street consensus of 94 cents.
At the other end, Citigroup was down 0.61% a day after management said that profits are likely take a $20bn hit under the new tax plans passed by Congress.
Ciena was 1.94% lower after the networking technology company missed analysts' forecasts for the company's bottom line in its fourth fiscal quarter.
Among some of the smaller caps, power supply provider Digital Power surged 24.45% on talk of a deal with online retailer Amazon.com.
However, the company said late on Wednesday that it had "entered into no agreement and has received no order from Amazon".
Dow Jones - Risers
Boeing Co. (BA) $282.00 2.33%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $142.89 1.96%
Visa Inc. (V) $111.40 1.51%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $60.60 1.47%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $122.40 0.98%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $54.77 0.77%
3M Co. (MMM) $240.30 0.63%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $82.55 0.33%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $169.32 0.18%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $248.56 0.09%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $105.26 -1.83%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $45.78 -1.44%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $90.10 -1.26%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $43.08 -0.85%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $134.21 -0.85%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $140.01 -0.74%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $119.65 -0.63%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $50.42 -0.53%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $96.78 -0.51%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $182.00 -0.46%
S&P 500 - Risers
DaVita Inc (DVA) $67.14 10.19%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $68.43 8.21%
Spectra Energy Corp. (SE) $12.92 6.51%
Brown Forman Corp. Class B (BF.B) $66.02 6.48%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $14.85 5.17%
Endo International Plc (ENDP) $7.44 4.94%
Frontier Communications Co. (FTR) $9.15 4.21%
H&R Block Inc. (HRB) $27.39 4.18%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $43.20 3.90%
Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) $117.44 3.89%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $3.69 -5.61%
EQT Corp. (EQT) $55.80 -5.46%
Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) $5.53 -4.98%
FMC Technologies Inc. (FTI) $27.18 -3.75%
Hess Corp. (HES) $44.60 -3.65%
Apache Corp. (APA) $40.64 -3.61%
Advance Auto Parts (AAP) $97.65 -3.50%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $15.95 -3.33%
GameStop Corp. (GME) $18.63 -3.32%
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $37.15 -3.20%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $43.20 3.90%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $241.38 3.59%
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class B (FOX) $33.77 3.27%
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc Class A (FOXA) $34.18 2.92%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $189.16 2.68%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $50.88 2.56%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $52.30 2.53%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $109.61 2.52%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $29.64 2.42%
Facebook Inc. (FB) $180.14 2.32%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $43.76 -3.36%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $106.78 -2.41%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $69.61 -2.03%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $37.89 -1.92%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $67.41 -1.69%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $62.30 -1.53%
Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) $42.68 -1.50%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $79.36 -1.40%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $173.96 -1.28%
Liberty Global Plc Lilac Class A (LILA) $21.31 -0.98%