A person walks at the Wall Street subway stop in New York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | fake pictures
Stock futures changed little in trading overnight Wednesday as the earnings season kicks off, giving investors a clearer picture of the overall health of American companies.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 4 points, pointing to a 20 point gain in Thursday’s open. S&P 500 futures were down 0.04%, while Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.4%.
Investors will monitor another batch of corporate earnings results on Thursday, including from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.
The earnings season began on Monday, and so far the results of the largest banks in the United States have been mixed. Goldman Sachs easily exceeded expectations when it reported earnings on Wednesday, helped by a 93% increase in business revenue. JPMorgan Chase also reported better-than-expected results, while Wells Fargo posted a loss of $ 2.4 billion and cut its dividend to 10 cents a share.
Johnson & Johnson, Charles Schwab, Abbott Labs and Domino’s Pizza will also report before the market opens on Thursday, while investors will be on the lookout for Netflix’s second-quarter earnings report after the bell.
The June retail sales number will also be released on Thursday, and economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect a 5.2% jump as the economy continues to reopen. May’s 17.7% increase exceeded previous estimates and was the largest reading on record.
Stocks ended Wednesday’s session higher, buoyed by positive news about a possible coronavirus vaccine, as well as by solid earnings results from Goldman Sachs. The Dow rose 227.51 points, or 0.9%, in its fourth consecutive positive session. The 30-share index crossed above the 27,000 mark for the first time in more than a month, although it failed to maintain that level at the close, and ended the session at 26,870.10.
The S&P 500 was up 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite performed relatively poorly, rising just 0.5%. The heavy tech index was hit by weakness in Big Tech stocks. Amazon fell more than 2%, while Netflix, Microsoft and Alphabet also closed in red as investors changed their names and moved into the top sectors. sensitive to the reopening of the economy, such as cruise line operators.
Moderna’s actions ended the session 6.9% more after data published by the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the company’s coronavirus vaccine produced a “robust” immune response, or neutralizing antibodies, in all 45 patients. in its initial stage of human testing.
Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean each increased more than 20% on Wednesday, while Carnival Corp. closed 16.2% more.
With Wednesday’s gain, the S&P 500 is now less than 5% from recovering its highest level in February, although some investors believe the rebound has gone too far, too fast, given all the uncertainties that remain in the market.
“We are not yet out of the woods yet and we are still far from returning to pre-COVID-19 economic levels,” said Nate Fischer, chief investment strategist at Strategic Wealth Partners.
“The market needs a health solution, as the economy was forced to close due to a health problem. Until now, we have had fiscal and monetary assistance for this problem. Until a real medical remedy is found, the market will remain volatile, “he added.
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