Wall Street overcomes early deficits to finish the week strong

Wall Street overcomes early deficits to finish the week strong

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4pm: Wall Street finishes in positive territory The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 191 points, or 0.7%, to 27,931, while The S&P 500 gained 0.4% to 3,397, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fnished at 11,312, up 47 points or 0.4%.  1:50pm: Apple shares up US markets were higher in the afternoon with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares continuing to climb towards another record high. The stock advanced 3.63% to US$490.28, widening the market cap size between it and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ;AMZN) - the next largest US company. In the markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added over 149 points at 27,889. The S&P 500 gained over six at 3,391. The Nasdaq added 20 points to 11,285. 1:15pm: Wall Street continues north Wall Street stocks were firmer just after lunch as traders welcomed a positive home sales report for July. Sales of existing homes in the US rose nearly 25% between June and July. It was the second month in a row in which the monthly increase was the largest on record, according to  the National Association of Realtors. The Dow Jones added 111 points a 27,851. The S&P 500 added three points and the Nasdaq was up around 22 points at 11,287. Drugs giant Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) was in focus, up 0.44% at US$38.90, along with BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX), ahead over 7% at US$71.24 as  they said they were on track to submit a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine candidate as early as October this year. 12pm EST: FTSE closes in red FTSE 100 index finished Friday lower but just above the 6,000 level as traders fretted over the Eurozone economy after disappointing data from France and Germany. Britain's index of top shares finished the day down around 11 points at 6,001.  Over the week, the benchmark fell around 1.4%. Midcap cousin FTSE 250 closed up over 42 points at 17,538. "In London, oil, banking and house building stocks are broadly in the red. The airline industry has been given a bit of respite, and that is likely down to the news the UK government has added Portugal to the safe-to-travel list," said market analyst David Madden, at London-based CMC Markets.        In the US, things were a little more upbeat after manufacturing and services reports came out, which beat earlier expectations. US and Canada 4.30pm/11.30am EST Wall Street stocks were up in morning deals. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added over 76 points at 27,815. The broader-based S&P 500 advanced around two points to 3,387. The tech heavy Nasdaq exchange was up 35 points at 11,300. Up in Toronto, the S&P/TSX index was firmly lower, off over 124 points at 16,482. 10.30am EST: Proactive North America headlines: Gevo Inc (NASDAQ:GEVO) secures $50 million at-the-market offering to pay down debt Medallion Resources Ltd (CVE:MDL) (OTCPINK:MLLOF) upsizes private placing to C$1.6M due to market demand Hillcrest Petroleum Ltd (CVE:HRH) (OTCMKTS:HLRTF) hires New York based capital and advisory group to accelerate its business aims Ximen Mining Corp (CVE:XIM) (OTCQB:XXMMF) updates on new portal work at Kenville gold mine project and reports positive metallurgical test results Tiziana Life Sciences (LON:TILS, NASDAQ:TLSA) lands US patent for liver cancer drug in combination with tyrosine kinase inhibitors Sorrento Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRNE)  to take on start-up SmartPharm in an all-paper deal worth US$19.4mln Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) launches global reseller program to support sales of enterprise mobile software Versus Systems  Inc (CSE:VC) (OTCQB:VRSSF) taps New York Media veteran David Spiegel to its advisory board Canntab Therapeutics (CSE:PILL) (OTCQB:CTABF) spends C$1.3M on cannabis processing equipment in two all-stock deals 9.45am: Wall Street starts lower The US markets have started Friday’s session on the back foot, with all three of the main indices slipping into the red in the early minutes of trading. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.12% at 27,706, while the S&P 500 fell 0.03% to 3,384. The Nasdaq also dropped 0.02% to 11,262 despite briefly moving into positive territory in the opening minutes of the session. Any optimism among traders may have been snuffed out following news that the US’s daily coronavirus death toll have remained above 1,000 for the third day in a row. 7.35am: Wall Street set for subdued start After making progress yesterday, US indices – except the NASDAQ Composite, of course – are expected to give back some of those gains today. According to spread betting quotes, the Dow is expected to open 59 points lower at 27,681 and the S&P 500 6 points softer at 3,379. The tech-heavy NASDAQ is seen starting 202 points firmer at 11,467, driven by continued enthusiasm for the tech titans, for reasons explained by Stuart Rumble, an investment director at Fidelity International. “The five biggest tech giants with over $400 billion market cap (Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Alphabet) continue to lead this rally and dominate the S&P 500. Their combined market cap is around $7 trillion and as a group now represent 23 per cent of the index based on market capitalisation, the biggest share in modern times for the top five. The tech titans also have the richest average PE ratio, at 44 times earnings. This significantly skews the entire index’s PE [price/earnings] ratio,” said Rumble. “But dig a little deeper and a different picture starts to emerge. If we exclude the tech giants, the weighted average PE ratio of the remaining 495 index constituents is 22 times earnings. Still high, but much more reasonable. However, there is more to it than that. “The market is putting a significant premium on earnings growth. This is clear when we compare today’s estimates for 1-year earnings versus 2019 earnings. The weighted average growth in earnings 1 year from today is expected to be 41% higher than 2019 earnings for the top 5 largest companies, whereas it is essentially flat for the rest of the index. “So, the message from the market is that the top five companies can keep driving growth while the rest of the index companies lag. We think this implies ample room for a broadening of the rally, but it is difficult to see that happening without a better macro outlook leading to a more widespread improvement in earnings forecasts,” Rumble ruminated. Europe has had its purchasing managers indices (PMI) for August and the US will follow suit this afternoon. Economists, who are obliged to make predictions that do their reputations few favours, are expecting the manufacturing PMI to creep up to 52 and the services PMI to nudge up to 51. “On the earnings front we have the latest Q3 [third quarter] numbers from US agricultural equipment company Deere and Co,” writes Michael Hewson of CMC Markets. “Expectations are for profits to come in at $1.21c a share,” he added. Five things to watch for on Friday: Flash PMI data for the manufacturing and services sectors for August, both of which will be eyed for any indication on the trajectory of the US economy after jobless claims earlier this week rose back above 1 million Share price reaction from Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) after the company said its coronavirus vaccine candidate, being jointly developed with German firm BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX), could reach regulatory review in October while also releasing data that showed the treatment displayed a “promising safety and immunogenicity profile” in its phase I US trial Second quarter numbers from shoe seller Foot Locker Inc (NYSE:FL), which in an update last week predicted an 18% rise in store sales in the period, better than expected. However, some analysts have voiced concerns that a reduction in US government stimulus could hit demand Existing home sales data for July following June’s figure of 4.72 million, bouncing back from a near decade low of 3.91 million in May, but below market forecasts of 4.78 million. Interest rates remain low which could boost sales further, however the escalating coronavirus pandemic in the US could squeeze the brakes Any further details from the US government on the possible re-imposition of international sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear ambitions, which has already drawn criticism from the UK, France and Germany

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