Stocks Lose Steam After Strong Start to Week
19 4월 2018 - 10:10PM
Dow Jones News
By Riva Gold and Joanne Chiu
-- S&P 500 futures edge lower
-- Hang Seng climbs
-- Crude oil rally continues
European stocks and S&P 500 futures cooled Thursday after a
strong start to the week as investors continued to parse corporate
results and a climb in oil prices.
Futures suggested the S&P 500 would edge down 0.3% after
three straight days of advances while the Stoxx Europe 600 was flat
in afternoon trading. That followed modest gains in Asian markets,
where a rally in commodity prices continued to boost shares of
oil-and-gas companies.
While index-level moves were muted, individual shares swung in
response to a fresh batch of corporate earnings.
Among Thursday's movers, shares of American Express Co. were up
3.9% in premarket trading after the company reported a 31% increase
in first-quarter profit, driven by a pickup in card holder spending
and borrowing. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. also rose 3.3% after
the bank reported net income that topped analysts' forecasts.
Shares of Philip Morris International fell 3.6% meanwhile after
its revenue fell short of analysts' expectations.
A solid start to the reporting season helped eased investors'
worries about trade tensions, technology regulation and
geopolitical uncertainties earlier this week.
"With the recent jitteriness of markets...the earnings season
should remind people that companies are still growing," said
Caroline Simmons, deputy head of the U.K. investment office at UBS
Wealth Management.
In Europe, shares in Publicis Groupe rose 8.7% after the
advertising agency reported solid revenue figures and reaffirmed
its 2018 targets, while Swiss conglomerate ABB rose 4.4% on
encouraging signs of order growth.
A post-earnings decline in shares of Novartis and Unilever
weighed down the broader Stoxx Europe 600 index, with the
companies' shares down 2.4% and 1.7% respectively, while index
heavyweight Nestlé rose just 0.54% after announcing results.
Unilever and Nestlé both struggled to raise prices in the first
quarter as some of the world's largest consumer goods companies
face increasingly fierce competition.
"Consumers are still very price conscious -- it's a reason we
don't think inflation will get out of hand," said Guy Miller, chief
market strategist at Zurich Insurance Group.
Shares of Shire rose 4.1% following reports of an offer from
Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.
Oil-and-gas companies were among the best performing stocks
globally on Thursday, with Brent crude oil last up 1.5% at $74.58 a
barrel after settling Wednesday at its highest since November 2014
when U.S. stockpiles fell by more than analysts were expecting.
"It's allowing commodity companies to make money and business
investment to pick up," said Zurich's Mr. Miller.
Some analysts also noted, however, that higher commodity prices
typically push up raw materials costs for other companies, can put
pressure on consumers and ultimately exert upward pressure on
inflation.
"Consumers are more sensitive to rises in the price of gas than
they are to declines in price of gas, so we have to watch that to
see if that weighs on broader consumer confidence out there and if
that has any impact on growth," said William Delwiche, investment
strategist at Baird.
Yields on 10-year Treasurys rose to 2.894% from 2.867% late
Wednesday, which was their highest in nearly a month. Yields move
inversely to prices.
Earlier, Asia-Pacific stocks mostly rose Wednesday, supported by
gains in energy companies and Chinese markets.
Hong Kong's China Enterprises Index, made up of Chinese-based
firms with listings in Hong Kong, climbed 2.1%, while the benchmark
Hang Seng Index rose 1.4%. Oil-related stocks helped fuel gains, as
PetroChina jumped 5.7% and peer Cnooc gained 4.4%.
Australia's S&P ASX 200 edged up 0.3%, the Shanghai
Composite Index rose 0.8% and Japan's Nikkei Stock Average edged up
0.2% in its fifth straight session of advances.
--Nathan Allen contributed to this article.
Write to Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com and Joanne Chiu at
joanne.chiu@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 19, 2018 08:55 ET (12:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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