The stock markets in the United States ended the trading session higher due to investors’ optimism on corporate earnings. The S&P 500 bounced from the biggest weekly decline in three months propelled by the shares of Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C).
Last Friday, the positive momentum of the shares of online retailers, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) drove the markets slightly higher amid concerns regarding the potential financial crisis in Portugal.
The concerns were ignited by allegations Espirito Santo International, the main holding company of Banco Espirito Santo SA (ELI:BES) covered up as much as €1.3 billion hole in its accounts.
Commenting on the movement of the markets today, Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners LLC told Bloomberg, “The earnings out of Citigroup helped lift the market.” He added, “The market has more room to run. It’s going to be interesting to watch the amount of strength that it carries day to day.”
On the other hand, Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management LLC commented, “Earnings generally are coming in pretty positively here, and revenues are as well. It’s a very early stage in this earning’s season to declare victory, but the indications look good here.”
This week, investors will be evaluating economic data on housing, labor market, inflation and manufacturing. They will also monitor statements from the Federal Reserve and other central banks regarding signs of strength in the global economy.
U.S. Markets
- Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)- 17,055.42 (+0.66%)
- S&P 500- 1,977.10 (+0.48%)
- NASDAQ- 4,440.42 (+0.56%)
- Russell 2000- 1,165.40 (+0.47 %)
European Markets
- EURO STOXX 50 Price EUR- 3,185.86 (+0.91%)
- FTSE 100 Index- 6,746.14 (+0.84%)
- Deutsche Borse AG German Stock Index DAX- 9,783.01 (+1.21%)
Asia-Pacific Markets
- Nikkei 225- 15,296.82 (+0.88%)
- Hong Kong Hang Seng Index- 23,346.67 (+0.49%)
- Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index- 2,171.76 (+1.11%)
Stocks in Focus
The stock price of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) climbed 1.29% to $96.45 per share after Barclays raised its rating for the stock to Overweight, which is similar to a Buy rating. In addition, the iPhone and iPad maker won the patent infringement lawsuit filed by Emblaze Ltd. (LON:BLZ), an Israeli media-services company.
The shares of Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) rose more than 3% to $48.44 per share after the third largest bank in the United States in terms of assets reported better than expected trading revenue and lower credit costs for the second quarter. The bank posted earnings of $1.24 per share excluding items on $19.4 billion in revenue compared with the $1.06 in earnings per share on $18.92 billion in revenue estimated by analysts.
Citigroup also agreed $7 billion in penalty and consumer relief to settle a government complaint on allegations that it misled investors about the quality of mortgage-backed securities sold prior to the 2008 financial crisis.
URS Corp (NYSE:URS) surged more than 12% to $58.40 per share it agreed to be acquired by AECOM Technology Corp (NYSE:ACM) for approximately $4 billion in cash and stock. The combined company is expected to generate around $19 billion in annual sales.
