US close: Stocks mixed as Fed releases beige book

By Sharecast News

Sharecast News | 19 Apr, 2017

US stocks were mostly lower on Wednesday, after opening in the green following strong earnings from financial firms led by Morgan Stanley.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.58% tat 20,404.49 and the S&P 500 lost 0.17% to 2,338.17, while the Nasdaq 100 added 0.15% to 5,399.64.

On the economic front, the Federal Reserve released its beige book in late trading, showing modest growth in the US economy for the period from mid-February to the end of March.

It wasn’t entirely rosy, however, as most Fed districts reported that businesses were finding it more difficult to hire for low-skilled positions, and modest wage pressures broadened.

In corporate news, Morgan Stanley gained 2.01% after the bank posted better-than-expected first quarter results, with a 74% jump in profit boosted by its trading and investment banking businesses.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said that Morgan Stanley’s earnings helped put a floor under the recent sell-off for financial stocks and the “bank’s numbers were boosted by a decent performance from its fixed income division, unlike Goldman Sachs yesterday which underperformed in that area” when it released its first quarter numbers.

Meanwhile, BlackRock fell 1.7% despite the money manager beating first quarter profit expectations its assets under management topping $5.4trn for the first time.

US Bancorp was down 0.22% after the lender reported a rise in profit and revenue in the first quarter thanks to an increase in loans following a hike in interest rates.

Yahoo fell 1.18% after it posted better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday ahead of its acquisition by Verizon Communications.

IBM dropped 6.47% after it reported a bigger-than-expected decline in first quarter revenue after the close on Tuesday.

After the close, earnings were due from American Express, eBay, Qualcomm and United Rentals.

Dow Jones - Risers

Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $62.61 0.59%
General Electric Co. (GE) $29.99 0.54%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $35.91 0.41%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $169.25 0.39%
Boeing Co. (BA) $178.40 0.31%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $132.64 0.26%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $74.06 0.24%
Visa Inc. (V) $89.75 0.02%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $32.65 -0.06%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $77.76 -0.14%