The stock markets in the United States fluctuated as investors evaluate the financial results of companies and data showed that the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits last week were higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the S&P 500 ended the trading today with a decline of 0.13% and 0.1%, respectively. The NASDAQ gained 0.31%.
Yesterday, the Federal Reserve stated that its decision to further reduce its monthly bond buying program by $10 billion to $45 billion citing that the “economic growth picked up recently.” Policy makers also maintained their position that a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy is still appropriate to support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability.
The Department of Labor is scheduled to release its employment report for the month of April. Economic estimated that the economy added 215,000 jobs last month. Yesterday, the ADP Research Institute reported that businesses added 220,000 jobs in April.
In a telephone interview with Bloomberg, Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at RW Baird & Co. said, “The market has had a nice little run here, and you’ve got a number coming tomorrow, so there may be some hesitation. s long as the Fed is going to remain friendly to the markets and rates are not going to go up, that’s going to be bullish for stocks.”
U.S. Markets
• Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)- 16,558.67 (-).13%%)
• S&P 500- 1,883.68 (-0.01 %)
• NASDAQ- 4,127.45 (+0.31%)
• Russell 2000- 1,123.79 (-0.27%)
European Markets
• EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR- 3,198.66 (+0.01%)
• FTSE 100 Index- 6,808.87 (+0.43%)
• Deutsche Borse AG German Stock Index DAX- 9,603.23 (+0.20%)
Asia-Pacific Markets
• Nikkei 225- 14,485.13 (+1.27%)
• Hong Kong Hang Seng Index- 22,133.97 (-1.42%)
• Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index- 2,158.66 (+0.01%)
Stocks in Focus
The stock price of Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE:AVP) declined more than 9% to $13.87 per share after the beauty products company earnings results that missed the estimates of Wall Street analysts. Its earnings were $0.12 per share compared with $0.21 per share estimated by analysts
The shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) climbed more than 2% to $61.15 per share after its CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced new features to improve user experience and new tools for developers to help them build, grow, and monetize mobile apps.
The stock price of LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) surged more than 5% to $161.22 per share after the professional social network company reported better than expected first quarter earnings results. During the quarter the company generated $0.38 earnings per share $473 million revenue compared the consensus estimate of $0.34 earnings per share on $466 million revenue.
The shares of Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) gained almost 10% to $64.02 per share after the online local business review company raised its revenue outlook this year in the range of $363 million to $367 million. Three research firms including Piper Jaffray, Macquarie Capital and RBC Capital issued positive comments and upgraded their rating for the stock.
