NEW YORK, Oct 27 — Equity markets gained globally yesterday as upbeat corporate earnings buoyed investor appetite for riskier investments, while gold prices fell nearly 1 per cent.
The three major US stock indexes closed modestly higher yesterday, with the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 hitting fresh records driven mostly by technology and healthcare shares.
Tech heavyweights Microsoft Corp and Google owner Alphabet Inc both reported third-quarter results that beat Wall Street expectations.
“Traders see this relatively strong earnings and other companies taking advantage of low interest rates to invest in capital expenditure as positive momentum,” said Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital.
The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 50 countries, added 0.2 per cent.
The European STOXX 600 index hit its highest in seven weeks, adding 0.75 per cent.
On Wall Street, Facebook Inc was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, after the company warned that Apple Inc’s new privacy changes would weigh on its digital business.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.04 per cent to 35,756.88; the S&P 500 gained 0.18 per cent at 4,574.79; and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.06 per cent at 15,235.72.
“Even though this has been a good earnings season in aggregate, we are starting to see more companies with supply backlogs, hiring difficulties, and rising input prices that are eating into profits,” Deutsche Bank analysts wrote.
Gold prices snapped five straight sessions of gains, shedding nearly 1 per cent as the dollar firmed and strong earnings lowered investor appetite for the safe-haven asset.
Spot gold was down 0.85 per cent at US$1,792.449 per ounce, while the US gold futures for December delivery settled down 0.7 per cent to US$1,793.40 per ounce. US dollar edged up, trading in a narrow range as markets awaited news from upcoming central bank meetings.
The US dollar index rose 0.127 per cent at 93.960 US Treasury yields were mixed in thin volume, with those on the long end of the curve falling for a third straight session as investors looked to next week’s Federal Reserve meeting for clues as to the timing of its first interest rate hike in three years.
The benchmark US 10-year yield was down at 1.6097 per cent. Oil prices edged up to their highest since 2014, supported by a global supply shortage and strong demand in the United States, the world’s biggest consumer.
Brent futures rose 0.5 per cent to settle at US$86.40 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude ended 1.1 per cent higher at US$84.65. — Reuters
