Wall Street stocks were mixed early on Thursday as market participants digested quarterly earnings from a number of the country’s largest banks.
As of 1510 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.32% at 34,675.32, while the S&P 500 was 0.43% softer at 4,427.46 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.96% weaker at 13,513.09.
The Dow opened 110.73 points higher on Thursday, extending gains recorded in the previous session despite yet another red-hot inflation report.
Corporate earnings were the flavour du jour on Thursday, with Citigroup beating first-quarter profit and revenue expectations as the banking giant benefited from surging volatility amid the Ukraine war, while Goldman Sachs flew past analysts’ estimates for first-quarter earnings with earnings per share of $10.76 each.
Wells Fargo reported first-quarter revenues that failed to meet Wall Street expectations and also warned that future credit losses looked set to increase, while Morgan Stanley beat profit estimates on stronger than expected trading and mergers and acquisitions performances.
In other corporate news, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a $43.0bn hostile takeover bid for social media behemoth Twitter. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk has offered $54.30 a share, which is a 54% premium to the closing share price on 28 January, before he started buying up shares.
On the macro front, Americans continued spending at a brisk pace last month, albeit largely due to the impact of higher gasoline prices. In seasonally adjusted terms, US retail sales volumes increased at a 0.5% month-on-month pace to reach $665.73bn, according to the Census Bureau.
Elsewhere, Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits at an elevated clip in the seven days ended 9 April, according to the Labor Department. Initial jobless claims rose by 18,000 to 185,000, above market expectations for a print of 171,000 but generally close to the previous week’s revised print of 167,000 – the lowest since 1968.
Still on data, a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index revealed consumer confidence in the United States increased to 65.70 points in April, up from 59.40 points in March.
Finally, business inventories rose 1.5% month-on-month on February, accelerating from the prior month’s upwardly revised pace of 1.3% to beat market expectations, according to the Census Bureau.
Dow Jones – Risers
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $129.62 3.36%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $130.52 2.33%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $222.12 1.67%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $545.31 1.55%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $325.30 1.39%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $45.21 1.36%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $256.49 1.18%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $64.76 1.01%
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) $252.69 0.66%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $86.58 0.59%
Dow Jones – Fallers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $46.11 -1.91%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $193.26 -0.96%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $285.02 -0.90%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $307.84 -0.83%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $179.87 -0.44%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $126.65 -0.25%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $53.91 -0.24%
3M Co. (MMM) $148.32 -0.23%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $169.35 -0.22%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $132.21 -0.04%
S&P 500 – Risers
Delta Airlines Inc. (DAL) $42.44 3.45%
Macy’s Inc. (M) $26.63 3.15%
US Bancorp (USB) $52.17 3.07%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $27.00 3.05%
Morgan Stanley (MS) $86.62 2.96%
Twitter Inc (TWTR) $47.17 2.87%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $129.62 2.76%
Royal Caribbean Cr (RCL) $84.03 2.51%
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH) $21.98 2.47%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $130.52 2.38%
S&P 500 – Fallers
Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) $45.43 -6.41%
W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) $506.16 -3.97%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $81.68 -2.88%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $299.03 -2.51%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $328.95 -2.25%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $46.90 -2.01%
Abiomed Inc. (ABMD) $298.45 -1.96%
Progressive Corp. (PGR) $111.68 -1.95%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $46.11 -1.91%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $337.08 -1.82%
Nasdaq 100 – Risers
Marriott International – Class A (MAR) $179.68 2.36%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $19.39 2.31%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $191.35 2.15%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $23.24 1.84%
Booking Holdings Inc. (BKNG) $2,291.85 1.40%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $45.13 1.19%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $256.15 1.04%
Fiserv Inc. (FISV) $99.91 0.84%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $215.74 0.82%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $84.42 0.74%
Nasdaq 100 – Fallers
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $1,102.85 -2.90%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $81.68 -2.88%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $993.62 -2.81%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $299.03 -2.51%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $328.95 -2.25%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $131.91 -2.05%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $57.10 -2.02%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $46.90 -2.01%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $46.11 -1.91%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $337.08 -1.82%
