NEW YORK, Jan 26 — Wall Street stocks were little changed early today as markets digested a deluge of earnings reports and looked forward to key consumer confidence data and a Federal Reserve policy announcement.
Big companies from across the economy updated investors with fourth-quarter results, with General Electric and 3M among those that projected higher 2021 sales amid an expected improvement in the economy as coronavirus vaccines become more widespread.
The IMF projected global growth of 5.5 per cent in 2021, but cautioned of “extraordinary uncertainty” as the world contends with Covid-19.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 31,088.26, up 0.4 per cent.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.1 per cent at 3,858.94, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 13,618.13. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each ended at records Monday.
Later today, the Conference Board will release its reading of consumer confidence and the Fed will open its first two-day monetary policy meeting of the year.
The US central bank is expected to maintain extraordinarily easy monetary policy amid the Covid-19 upheaval. — AFP
