Around the Globe
USA | Jul 20, 2021

Wall Street rises after steep selloff, strong results boost IBM

/ Our Today

administrator
Reading Time: 3 minutes
FILE PHOTO: A person walks by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., July 19, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

(Reuters)

Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Tuesday (July 20), as economically sensitive stocks rebounded after a sharp selloff in the previous session, while International Business Machines (IBM) jumped on strong second-quarter results.

Shares of the blue-chip technology firm climbed 3.7 per cent as brokerages raised their price targets on the stock following robust growth in the company’s cloud and consulting businesses.

Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes were trading higher, with the S&P 500 banks index rising 0.7 per cent.

Focus is now on earnings reports from companies such as Netflix Inc and Chipotle Mexican Grill due later in the day.

The second-quarter earnings season is underway, with 41 companies on the S&P 500 having reported their numbers so far. Of those, 90 per cent have beaten consensus estimates, Refinitiv data showed.

Analysts now expect a year-on-year S&P 500 earnings growth of 72 per cent for April-June period, as per Refinitiv data.

Wall Street’s main indexes ended sharply lower on Monday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones index logging its worst day in nearly nine months, as a surge in Delta variant infections sparked a broad sell-off on fears about renewed COVID-19 shutdowns and a protracted economic recovery.

“We have been in a straight line, almost straight up, and the market needs to shake it off once in a while. It (Delta variant) was an excuse to accelerate some selling yesterday,” said Anthony Minopoli, chief investment officer at Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors.

“We’re looking at the Delta variant as a short-term situation but really more focused on what’s happening with employment, inflation and keeping an eye on if there’s any change in tone coming from the Fed.”

At 9:43 am Eastern Time (ET), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 231.32 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 34,193.36, the S&P 500 was up 16.57 points, or 0.39 per cent, at 4,275.06 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 13.12 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 14,288.10.

(Photo: Investpedia)

Shares of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related firms Coinbase Global, Riot Blockchain, Marathon Patent Group, and MicroStrategy Inc fell between 2.4 per cent and 4.3 per cent as bitcoin slipped below $30,000.

Halliburton Co rose 1.1 per cent after it posted a second-straight quarterly profit, as a rebound in crude prices from pandemic lows buoyed demand for oilfield services.

Peloton Interactive Inc rose 3.6 per cent after the fitness products maker said it would provide UnitedHealth Group’s millions of fully insured members access to its live and on-demand fitness classes for a year at no additional cost.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.26-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.67-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded eight new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 11 new highs and 38 new lows.

Comments

What To Read Next