Nasdaq hits record, S&P is constantly approaching high on optimistic earnings of Reuters
© Reuters. Traders working on the NYSE floor in New York By Sruthi Shankar and Amy Caren Daniel
(Reuters) – It moved closer all the time high on Wednesday, while technology stores nudged Nasdaq to a record level, as investors took heart from a big busy earnings season.
S & P 500 is only 6 points shy of its intra-day record high of 2,940.91 hit at the end of September. The index has rallied 1[ads1]7% this year, backed by a dovish Federal Reserve, hoping for a trade settlement in the US and China and a largely optimistic earnings season.
"For the most part, stocks are fully priced and markets are having trouble finding reasons to go to even higher levels," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.
Boeing (NYSE 🙂 Co got 0.6% after the planner knocked out the 2019 outlook and reported quarterly earnings during projections due to grounding of its 737 MAX rays. The company's shares have lost 11% since the deadly Ethiopian crash in early March.
Caterpillar Inc (NYSE 🙂 fell 2.4% as rising costs hit margins in construction and the company reported weak sales in the Asia Pacific region.
Profits of the S & P 500 companies are expected to decline by 1.1% for the first quarter, according to Refinitv data. However, the estimates have improved since the beginning of April, with 77.5% of the 129 companies reporting so far exceeding earnings estimates.
At 11:29 ET was down 10.90 points or 0.04% at 26.645.49. The S&P 500 was up 0.44 points, or 0.01%, of 2.934.12 and it was up 10.45 points, or 0.13%, of 8,131.27.
"We have some big revenue coming up like Amazon (NASDAQ 🙂 that can affect the markets. But the next big news that the markets can face is the China Trade Agreement, if we are to get one," said Meckler.
US President Donald Trump sounded optimistic about the ongoing negotiations between the United States and China when the two sides worked to hammer out a final deal.
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ 🙂 and Facebook Inc ] NASDAQ :), set to report after closing clock on Wednesday, was down a bit.
Chip stocks rose to 1.9% in record highs after stocks in Texas Instruments (NASDAQ 🙂 complained loss loss.
EBay Inc shares jumped 4.9% after the company increased its full-year sales and profit forecasts.
AT & T Inc (NYSE 🙂 shares declined 4% after the second largest US wireless operator reported quarterly revenue under Wall Street estimates.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp (NYSE 🙂 shares jumped 12.1%, giving the biggest increase to S & P 500, after Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE 🙂 attempted to scuttle Chevron (NYSE 🙂 Corps takeover of the company with a $ 57 billion bid. Occidental's shares fell 3%.
Accelerated problems were decliners with a 1.37 to 1 ratio on NYSE and a 1.18 to 1 ratio on Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 46 new 52-week highs and a new low, while Nasdaq recorded 77 new heights and 23 new downs.
