The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Stocks finish mixed as Amazon leads retail rally
U.S. stocks finished with a split decision after a wobbly day of trading. Amazon led a rally among retailers.
NEW YORK » U.S. stocks finished with a split decision Friday after a wobbly day of trading. Amazon led a rally among retailers, but Exxon Mobil dragged energy companies lower to end an uneven week on Wall Street.
So far the first-quarter earnings season has been a strong one for U.S. companies, but it hasn’t thrilled investors. On Friday Amazon, Microsoft and Expedia all climbed after reporting earnings, but Exxon, Charter Communications and Starbucks all slumped. According to Fact-Set, about 80 percent of the S&P companies that have reported their results have announced a larger per-share profit than analysts expected.
High-dividend companies like utilities rose as bond yields slipped, but defense contractors fell. Asian stocks rose following the landmark summit of the leaders from North and South Korea.
This week investors worried that rising raw materials costs, as well as higher interest rates and wages, could eat into corporate profits. Meanwhile they were pleased with strong results from Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and others. The S&P 500 index finished the week almost exactly where it started.
Karyn Cavanaugh, senior market strategist for Voya Investment Strategies, said investors haven’t regained their confidence since February’s market plunge. But in her view, the economy continues to do well and there are few signs that inflation or wages are about to rocket higher, an outcome that could dent corporate profits.
“There’s reason to think things are very, very good, but not overheating. That’s a great environment for earnings,” she said. “The market is getting a little bit spoiled.”
The S&P 500 index gained 2.97 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,669.91. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 11.15 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 24,311.19. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.12 points to 7,119.80. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 1.66 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,556.24. Most of the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange finished higher.
Amazon said its first-quarter profit more than doubled as consumers shopped more online and revenue from its cloud computing business continued to rise. The results were far stronger than Wall Street expected and the stock jumped 3.6 percent to $1,572.62, adding to Thursday’s 4 percent gain. Amazon also said it will hike the price of an annual Prime membership to $119 from $99 in the U.S.
Amazon recovered the last of its losses from late March and early April. It slumped after President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized the company over issues including sales tax collection and its contracts with the U.S. Postal Service.
The U.S. economy grew 2.3 percent in the first quarter, better than experts had forecast. While consumer spending turned in the weakest performance in nearly five years, experts think it will pick up later in the year thanks to continued low unemployment and Republican-backed tax cuts.
Bond prices rose again. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.96 percent from 2.98 percent Thursday. It hit four-year highs recently and peaked at 3.03 percent earlier this week. Highyield stocks like household goods makers and utilities moved up.