The stock markets in the United States climbed today after suffering declines over the past two days. Investors’ optimism regarding corporate earnings and the improvement of the labor market reduced concerns regarding forecasts that the Federal Reserve would increase interest rates earlier than expected.
Yesterday, the NASDAQ suffered a huge decline (-1.35%) after investors selloff their stockholding in technology companies including Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P).
Deutsche Postbank AG strategist, Heinz-Gerd Sonnenschein told Bloomberg that strong earnings results need to support equities as investor would keep wondering about the timing of the increase of interest rates by the Federal Reserve. Goldman Sachs chief economist, Jan Hatzius predicted that the central bank might raise the interest rates in the third quarter of 2015.
Today, Joe Bell, senior equity analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research commented that investors continue to see improvement in the labor market particularly after the recent jobs report. According to him, “We saw a knee-jerk reaction down, but we usually get some short-term volatility after events like these. A lot of people are viewing the fact that the Fed is going to continue to be accommodative to the economy.”
Over the next two weeks, more than 130 companies listed in the S&P 500 are scheduled to release their quarterly financial results, according to Bloomberg.
U.S. Markets
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)- 16,985.61 (+0.47%)
- S&P 500- 1,972.83 (+0.46%)
- NASDAQ- 4,419.03 (+0.63%)
- Russell 2000- 1,173.85 (+0.15%)
European Markets
- EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR- 3,203.10 (+0.59%)
- FTSE 100 Index- 6,718.04 (-0.30%)
- Deutsche Borse AG German Stock Index DAX- 9,808.20 (+0.36%)
Asia-Pacific Markets
- Nikkei 225- 15,302.65 (-0.08%)
- Hong Kong Hang Seng Index- 23,176.07 (-1.55%)
- Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index- 2,148.71(-1.46%)
Stocks in Focus
Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) kicked off the earnings season with a strong results yesterday, which drove the stock price of the company higher today. The shares of the aluminum giant climbed more than 5% to $15.69 per share. Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) posted earnings of $0.18 per share excluding items and $5.85 billion in revenue for the second quarter. The financial results of the company outperformed the consensus estimate of $0.12 in earnings per share and $5.66 billion in revenue for the period.
The stock price of American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL) rose more than 4% to $41.99 per share the company said its pre-tax margins for the second quarter will exceed its previous guidance. In addition, American Airlines said it is anticipating a strong global travel demand and “no material pockets of weakness.”
Gigamon Inc (NYSE:GIMO) plummeted more than 32% to $12.29 per share after the company reported as much as $35 million in preliminary revenue for the second quarter. The amount was lower than its previous guidance of as much as $42 million. Its preliminary revenue was also lower than the $40.3 million consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts.
