The markets weremixed today as earnings continues to have a big impact on investors' decisions going forward. The Dow 30 was higher by 79, the S&P 500 gained 6, but the Nasdaq 100 was lower on the day by 1 thanks to a quiet day in the FANG stocks.
As of now there have been 9.2% of the S&P 500 companies reporting earnings showing an impressive 22.1% growth year over year. Analysts continue to expect 20% average.
Sector News:
Financials (NYSE: XLF) were the best performing sector today, breaking back above the 200 day moving average as earnings continues to shine in the underperforming sector. Thanks to the recent performance of Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and others the sector is higher by 6% in the last 3 weeks.
Industrials were the second best performer today as the sector moves back into the 200 day moving average. The recent calming of trade wars has helped bigger names like Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) and others slow their recent declines and recover.
Real Estate continued to pullback towards the 200 day moving average, hurt by new data that shows a slowing in new home starts along with new mortgage applications. Higher interest rates have many analysts worried about a slowing housing market.
Semiconductors (NYSE: SMH) stood out today as a strong area of the market thanks to strong earnings from ASML holdings (NASDAQ: ASML) which helped boost the sector.
Stock News:
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) shares were higher by 2.5% today, helping support the financial sector as the company reported a profit of $1.30 per share which easily beat Wall Street's expectations of $1.11. The company attributed some of the success to higher revenues in their wealth management division as well as investment banking. Investors also cheered the company raising their dividend by $0.05 per share to $0.30.
United Continental (NYSE: UAL) shares blasted off 9% today as the company announced earnings that easily beat expectations. Revenue was also much higher than expected and investors responded to the full year guidance which was raised. Shares came close to breaking to new 52 week highs.
CSX (NYSE: CSX) shares added 6.5% today, breaking to new highs as the company reported earnings after the close yesterday that handily beat expectations. The company mirrored JB Hunts (NASDAQ: JBHT) news that cost cutting and higher prices were the driving factors behind the beat.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares were higher once again today as it was reported that the company generated $2 billion in revenue from it's fourth annual prime day. Despite the temporary glitch on the website the company claims much success in their event.