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The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 190 points as U.S. stocks looked set to inch higher amid robust earnings reports from Coca-Cola and GM.
Summary
- Stocks were largely subdued despite GM, Coca-Cola continuing wave of positive earnings reports.
- Dow Jones gained 190 points but both S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were little changed.
- Wall Street remains bullish amid focus on tariffs, interest rates and earnings season.
U.S. stocks were largely unchanged, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average showed a positive outlook with gains of 190 points. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both hovered near the flatline, with the benchmark S&P 500 posting slight gains of 0.02% while the Nasdaq shed 0.1%.
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US stocks muted, GM and Coca-Cola surge
While the overall performance for U.S. stocks was subdued, equities were mostly bullish.
A lot of the upbeat sentiment relates to an earnings boost, with General Motors, Coca-Cola, and 3M all gaining amid better-than-expected earnings reports. GM’s stock soared more than 14% after its earnings report, while COKE edged up.
U.S. regional lender Zions Bancorp also showed resilience with an early 3% share price increase, after a major selloff stemming from a $50 million investment writeoff.
Investors are also likely to flip to full-on bullish mode as anticipated earnings beats by industry giants such as Tesla, Netflix, and others add to the strong pace that analysts are pointing to for the third-quarter earnings season.
Notably, investors expect a bumper earnings season for major tech companies, including a 14.9% spike in year-over-year earnings. Per FactSet, the 493 other companies in the S&P 500 are expected to see a 6.7% jump in earnings.
Gains for the Mag Seven might trigger an overall bullish trend for stocks.
This, combined with potential thawing trade war jitters, will help risk assets. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision in the coming days, despite the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, could also be a major tailwind for the market.
“The bar for further cuts after October is higher than the market thinks,” Goldman Sachs vice chair Robert Kaplan told CNBC on Monday.
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