NEW YORK, April 22 — Major US stock indexes ended with fractional gains yesterday following mixed earnings results as investors assessed how conflicting economic data might influence interest rates and looked ahead to a massive week of corporate reports.
A survey showed US business activity accelerated to an 11-month high in April, further clouding the outlook for the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy after data earlier in the week indicated a weakening economy.
Procter & Gamble Co’s shares rose 3.5 per cent as customers kept buying despite repeated price hikes, helping the maker of products raging from Tide detergent and Gillette razors to Head & Shoulders shampoo and Crest toothpaste boost its sales forecast and third-quarter margins.
The benchmark S&P 500 has been generally stable over early stages of a first-quarter earnings season that investors expect to show tepid results. Next week will see a flood of reports, including from megacap tech and growth companies whose shares have helped the S&P 500 rally to start the year.
“The market has been basically in a bit of a holding pattern ahead of big tech earnings next week,” said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services. “There is a tug of war between good and bad economic data, good and bad earnings data.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 22.34 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 33,808.96, the S&P 500 gained 3.73 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 4,133.52 and the Nasdaq Composite added 12.90 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 12,072.46.
For the week, the S&P 500 slipped 0.1 per cent, the Dow dipped 0.2 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 0.4 per cent.
Results next week are due from some of the highest-valued US companies including Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet and Amazon. Amazon shares rose 3 per cent yesterday after a research firm predicted the online retailer’s business in North America would beat Wall Street’s estimates.
The materials group fell 0.9 per cent, most among S&P 500 sectors, weighed down by declines in Freeport-McMoRan Inc and Albemarle Corp Albemarle slumped 10 per cent after Chile unveiled plans to nationalize the lithium industry. Shares of Freeport dropped 4.1 per cent after the copper miner’s first-quarter profit more than halved.
In other earnings news, HCA Healthcare Inc shares jumped about 4 per cent after the hospital operator lifted forecasts for 2023. Its report boosted shares of other hospital operators.
So far, analysts have largely retained last week’s expectations of a near-5 per cent year-on-year fall in quarterly profits at S&P 500 companies, according to Refinitiv data.
“The unpredictability of earnings and revenue and guidance going forward has increased a lot,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel. “You have signs that the economy is softening all over the place.”
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.24-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.10-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 53 new highs and 186 new lows.
About 9.9 billion shares changed hands in US exchanges, compared with the 10.4 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. — Reuters
