Wall St stocks end higher with major corporate earnings in view

All three indexes were more or less flat until about 11:30 a.m. when they suddenly zoomed way up, the Dow reaching a gain of over 450 by 2:30 p.m. until beginning a steady decline closing at a gain of 253. The morning buying spree may have been triggered by “the standard buy-on-the-dip after a 5% pullback” and by general excitement over anticipation of strong Q1 reports coming later this week from the Magnificent Seven stocks bolstered by today’s solid performance from Alphabet, Apple and Amazon.  But this was also tempered by customary caution regarding the Fed.  In addition to megacap company earnings, investors also await the March PCE data for more hints on inflation and rate cuts. Volume is still a little below average at 10.33 billion. 

Wall St stocks end higher with major corporate earnings in view

By Chibuike Oguh

Mon April 22, 2024 4:30 PM

DJ: 37,986.40  +211.02        NAS: 15,282.01  -319.49        S&P: 4,967.23  -43.89      4/19

DJ: 38,239.98  +253.58        NAS: 15,451.31  +169.30       S&P: 5,010.60  +43.37     4/22

NEW YORK, April 22 (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks ended higher on Monday following a market sell-off in previous sessions as investors eyed a busy week for quarterly results from key companies that would provide a glimpse of the U.S. economy's health.  The benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab and the Nasdaq (.IXIC), opens new tab rebounded from a decline over the past six sessions which had been caused by investors re-evaluating their expectations on interest rate cuts in the wake of strong economic data, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation and commentary from Federal Reserve officials.  All 11 S&P 500 sectors closed higher, with technology (.SPLRCT), opens new tab and financial stocks (.SPSY), opens new tab leading gains.

Markets were gearing up for quarterly results from megacap companies this week, including some of the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks such as Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab, Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab, Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab.

"I think it's just standard buy-on-the-dip after a 5% pullback that kind of wakes people up to put money to work," said Lamar Villere, portfolio manager at Villere & Co in New Orleans.  "Investors are looking ahead to this week with hugely significant earnings coming out and with concerns about what the Fed is doing with pushing back any rate cuts," Villere added.  Money markets are pricing in only about 41 basis points (bps) of rate cuts this year, down from about 150 bps seen at the beginning of the year, according to LSEG data.  In addition to top corporate earnings, markets are also awaiting the release later this week of the March personal consumption expenditure (PCE) data - the Fed's preferred inflation gauge - to further ascertain the trajectory of monetary policy.

The S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab gained 43.37 points, or 0.87%, to 5,010.60 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 169.30 points, or 1.11%, to 15,451.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab rose 253.58 points, or 0.67%, to 38,239.98.  Megacap growth stocks ended higher, with gains in Alphabet, Amazon.com (AMZN.O), opens new tab and Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab between 0.5% and 1.5%. Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab gained 4.4% to rebound from a 10% drop in the previous session.

"This is predicated on positive technical expectations on tech earnings and traders not wanting to be short in front of it, and the PCE numbers later this week that people are somewhat sanguine about as well," said Thomas Hayes, chairman of hedge fund Great Hill Capital in New York.  Tesla shares dropped 3.4% as the electric vehicle maker cut prices in a number of its major markets, including China and Germany, following price reductions in the United States.  Cardinal Health (CAH.N), opens new tab fell 5% after the drug distributor said its contracts with UnitedHealth Group's (UNH.N), opens new tab OptumRx, one of its largest customers, will not be renewed when they expire at the end of June.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.87-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 49 new highs and 76 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 2,682 stocks rose and 1,499 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.79-to-1 ratio.  The S&P 500 posted 9 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows while the Nasdaq recorded 40 new highs and 184 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.33 billion shares, compared with the 11.03 billion average for the last 20 days.