The stock markets in the United States gained except the NASDAQ, down by 0.10% today. Investors continue to monitor corporate earnings results. They are also waiting for the minutes of the meeting of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) to look for signs related to the timing of interest rate increase.
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Commenting on the market trends, Tom Worth, a senior investment officer at Chemung Canal Trust Co. told Bloomberg, “Earnings is driving most everything that’s going on right now. When I look at the stocks that are doing well, and those that aren’t doing so well; it’s mostly earnings driven here.”
A majority of the economists (73%) polled by Bloomberg suggested that the Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates until September. Most of the policy makers expect an interest rate hike by the end of this year.
Last month, policy makers indicated that they want to see further improvement in the labor market, and to be “reasonably confident” that the inflation will increase to their 2% target before raising interest rates.
[drizzle]Today, the Conference Board’s Index of consumer confidence declined from 101.4 to 95.2.
Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategists at CMC Markets commented, “It appears that consumers are not spending on big-ticket items, while confidence also dropped. In the next month or so, if we do not see improved economic numbers, markets might see a deeper correction, as a lot of investors had been expecting consumer spending to pick up.”
U.S. Markets
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) – 18,110.74 (+0.40%)
- S&P 500- 2,114.86 (+0.28%)
- NASDAQ- 5,055.42 (-0.10%)
- Russell 2000- 1,257.64 (+0.39%)
European Markets
- EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR- 3,715.42 (-1.49%)
- FTSE 100 Index- 7,030.53 (-1.03%)
- Deutsche Borse AG German Stock Index DAX- 11,811.66 (-1.89%)
Asia-Pacific Markets
- Nikkei 225- 20,058.95 (+0.38%)
- Hong Kong Hang Seng Index- 28,442.75 (+0.03%)
- Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index- 4,741.86 (+1.37%)
Stocks in Focus
The stock price of Coach declined more than 6% to $36.64 per share after reporting disappointing revenues for its third quarter fiscal 2015. The company posted adjusted earnings of $0.36 per diluted share on $928.3 million in revenue compared with the $0.35 in earnings per share on $949.90 million in revenue consensus estimate.
JetBlue Airways Corporation gained more than 6% to $21.02 per share after deliver strong earnings for the first quarter of 2015. The company reported $0.40 in earnings per share, higher than the $0.39 per share expected by analysts. Its total revenues were $1.52 billion, in line with consensus estimates.
Twitter plummeted more than 18% to $42.27 per share after reporting weak financial results for the first quarter and reduced its guidance for the full fiscal 2015. The company reported non-GAAP earnings of $0.07 per share on $436 million in revenue, which was lower than its guidance of around $440 million to $450 million.
Twitter expected to achieve full-year revenue in the range of $2.17 billion to $2.27 billion, down from its previous guidance of around $2.3 billion to $2.35 billion.
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