- Bank of America boosts S&P 500
- Twitter wins after launch of ‘poison pill’
- Didi meets on US delisting plans, stocks plummet
- Indices down: Dow 0.11%, S&P 0.02%, Nasdaq 0.14%
April 18 – US stocks ended lower on Monday after all three benchmarks slipped between positive and negative territory as investors contrasted positive Bank of America earnings with rising bond yields ahead of more earnings signals this week.
Market participants are preparing for a flurry of profits that will help them gauge the impact of the Ukraine war and a surge in inflation on corporate financials. Netflix (NFLX.O), Tesla (TSLA.O), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and International Business Machines (IBM.N) will all report this week.
Trading volume was light after the Easter break, with 10.35 billion shares changing hands, compared to the average of 11.79 billion for the entire session over the past 20 trading days.
With European markets also remaining closed on Monday, this listless trading added to the upside-down session.
“The market is looking for a direction. Do we get them from the profits – maybe. But the overriding factors remain how China looks with its zero-COVID policy and how the Fed looks in terms of interest rates and inflation,” said Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio manager and principal portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers.
“It will be some time before either of them give us a clear direction. With that in mind, I’m not shocked if we just continue to trade in a range.”
Bank of America wrapped up the earnings season for the major Wall Street banks, reporting strong growth in its consumer lending business, although its investment banking unit was impacted by a slowdown in business activity. Continue reading
The stock price rose 3.4%, while the broader S&P 500 banking index (.SPXBK) also rose 1.7%.
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) slipped 0.1% as the benchmark 10-year government bond yield rose to 2.86%, after hitting 2.884% earlier Monday, its highest since December 2018.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S. March 30, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
Shares of market-leading technology and growth companies have come under pressure as expectations of a series of rate hikes threaten to erode their future profits.
However, Tesla rose 2% as it prepared to reopen its Shanghai plant after a nearly three-week COVID shutdown. Continue reading
Five of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by the Energy Index (.SPNY), which rose 1.5%. Crude oil prices rose, with Brent topping $114 a barrel at times on defaults in Libya, adding to concerns over tight global supply.
Among the best performers was Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC.N), which rose 3.3% to hit a second lifetime high in three sessions. Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N) and Phillips 66 (PSX.N) were both up 5.2%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 39.54 points, or 0.11%, to 34,411.69, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 0.9 points, or 0.02%, to 4,391.69 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) fell 18.72 points, or 0.14%, to 13,332.36.
Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW.N) fell 9.4%, its biggest one-day decline since March 2020 after the financial services firm missed quarterly earnings estimates.
Twitter (TWTR.N) rose 7.5% as the microblogging site launched a “poison pill” on Friday to prevent Tesla CEO Elon Musk from increasing his stake above 15% for a year .
Didi Global Inc (DIDI.N) tumbled 18.3% after the Chinese ride-hailing company said it would hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on May 23 to vote on its delisting plans in the United States. Continue reading
The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 24 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite posted 59 new highs and 397 new lows.
Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar, Sruthi Shankar and Amal S in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Edited by Arun Koyyur, Anil D’Silva and Grant McCool