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US-STOCKS-MARKETS
S&P, Nasdaq end at records on strong earnings
NEW YORK, July 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Major US indices surged to records on
Friday following standout earnings from Google, Starbucks and others and as
investors anticipated an expected Federal Reserve interest rate cut next
week.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent to 3,025.86, while the tech-rich
Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.1 percent to 8,330.21. Both are new records,
topping the prior all-time highs set Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.2 percent to 27,192.45, about
170 points shy of its own peak.
The records reflect positive investor sentiment midway through an earnings
season that is seen as generally topping forecasts.
Confidence remains strong that the Fed will cut interest rates next week
even after a recent spate of largely solid economic data, including Friday’s
better-than-expected US growth report for the second quarter.
The new records came as President Donald Trump both warned of retaliatory
tariffs on French wine due to a French tax on American tech giants and also
threatened to withdraw recognition of China’s “developing nation” status at
the World Trade Organization.
But those moves were not consequential enough to outweigh hopes that next
week’s face-to-face trade meetings between the United States and China will
lead to progress, said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National
Securities.
Hogan said the exchange of goods between the United States and France was
comparatively small, while the threat against developing nations at the WTO
appeared to be a ploy for another bargaining chip in trade talks with China.
“I don’t think that this is necessarily another escalation,” Hogan said.
Among individual companies, Google parent Alphabet surged 10.5 percent
after reporting that earnings tripled in the second quarter from a year
earlier to $9.9 billion and announcing $25 billion in stocks buybacks.
Starbucks was another big winner, surging 8.9 percent as it lifted full-
year profit and sales targets and reported a six percent jump in comparable
store sales.
Telecom giants T-Mobile and Sprint won 5.4 percent and 7.4 percent as US
antitrust enforcers approved their $26 billion merger.
The deal calls for Sprint to sell some of its prepaid wireless operations
to satellite TV operator Dish Network, which would create its own telecom
service. Dish climbed 0.9 percent.
BSS/AFP/HR/0922