U.S. Stocks Up, Led Bank Shares
May 23 2017 - 4:37PM
Dow Jones News
By Akane Otani and Christopher Whittall
Financial stocks lifted the S&P 500 Tuesday as the index
notched a fourth consecutive session of gains.
U.S. stocks have been resilient in recent months to investors'
concerns that political turmoil in Washington could push back the
Trump administration's plans for policy changes like tax cuts and
fiscal stimulus. A strong corporate earnings season and a largely
stable economy are helping major indexes stay buoyant, investors
and analysts say.
"First-quarter profits were clearly exceptional -- not just
better than what analysts forecasted -- and I think that's the
primary reason why this market just keeps driving higher," said Ed
Keon, managing director and portfolio manager with QMA, a
multiasset manager owned by Prudential Financial.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 43 points, or 0.2%, to
20938 on Tuesday. The S&P 500 added 0.2% and the Nasdaq
Composite edged up less than 0.1%.
Financial stocks in the S&P 500 rose with yields, ranking
among the best-performing sectors in the broad index for the day.
Morgan Stanley shares added 1.8%, Goldman Sachs Group rose 1.7% and
Huntington Bancshares gained 2%.
Government bonds edged lower, with the yield on the 10-year U.S.
Treasury note rising to 2.285% from 2.254% on Monday, according to
Tradeweb. Yields rise as bond prices fall.
Consumer discretionary shares fell 0.4% in the S&P 500,
dragged lower by shares of auto-parts companies. Shares of AutoZone
lost 12% after the company reported a slide in same-store sales and
earnings that missed analysts' expectations.
Later this week, investors are looking ahead to the release of
minutes of the Federal Reserve's May meeting on Wednesday.
Some investors are speculating that the central bank could hold
interest rates steady at its June meeting following the recent
decline in the dollar and Treasury yields. But others say the Fed
is on track to continue raising rates.
"We think they're going to go in June. There seems [to be] no
reason for them not to -- the economy seems strong," said Mike
Bell, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.2%, led by gains in
shares of banks and technology firms, as investors looked past a
blast at a concert hall in Manchester, England, late Monday.
The British pound was 0.1% lower against the U.S. dollar
recently, while some initial buying of havens such as government
bonds from earlier in the session eased.
Asian markets settled mostly lower, with the Shanghai Composite
Index down 0.5% and the Shenzhen Composite Index losing 2.1%.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.3% and Australia's S&P/ASX
200 declined 0.2%.
Write to Akane Otani at akane.otani@wsj.com and Christopher
Whittall at christopher.whittall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 23, 2017 16:22 ET (20:22 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.