{"id":56498,"date":"2015-07-21T08:33:04","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T00:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=56498"},"modified":"2015-07-21T08:33:04","modified_gmt":"2015-07-21T00:33:04","slug":"us-stocks-gain-notch-modest-gains-on-solid-earnings-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/07\/21\/us-stocks-gain-notch-modest-gains-on-solid-earnings-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"US stocks gain notch modest gains on solid earnings reports"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Wikipedia<\/a>
Wikipedia Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

U.S. stocks ended slightly higher on Monday after a mostly listless day of trading. The Nasdaq composite managed to eke out its second straight record high.<\/p>\n

Investors had their eye on company earnings news after weeks of fretting over Greece’s debt crisis and a steep slide in China’s stock market.<\/p>\n

“We’re focused on earnings and they’re coming in better,” said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at Prudential Financial. “Even though the estimates have been lowered, the companies beating are beating very nicely.”<\/p>\n

Technology stocks rose more than the rest of the market. Gold slumped to its lowest level in five years, pulling mining stocks lower. A nearly three-week slump in oil prices deepened.<\/p>\n

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 13.96 points, or 0.1 percent, to 18,100.41. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 1.64 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,128.28. The Nasdaq rose 8.72, or 0.2 percent, to 5,218.86, eclipsing its previous record set last Friday.<\/p>\n

The three major indexes are up for the year. The S&P is up 3.4 percent, while the Dow is up 1.6 percent. The Nasdaq has gained 10.2 percent this year.<\/p>\n

Stocks briefly wavered in early trading Monday, but mostly remained on course for a gain as traders reviewed the latest earnings reports.<\/p>\n

Toymaker Hasbro and the oil and gas company Halliburton rose after reporting results Monday that were better than analysts were expecting.<\/p>\n

Hasbro climbed $4.90, or 6.3 percent, to $83.15. Halliburton added 73 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $40.72.<\/p>\n

PayPal surged 5.4 percent on its first day of trading as a stand-alone company after its separation from eBay. PayPal gained $2.08 to $40.47.<\/p>\n

Newmont Mining slid 12.2 percent as gold prices slumped. The stock lost $2.53 to $18.16.<\/p>\n

All told, seven of the 10 sectors in the S&P 500 moved higher, led by technology stocks. The sector is up 5.7 percent this year. Energy stocks fell the most, extending the sector’s losses for the year to 10.5 percent.<\/p>\n

It’s a slow week for major economic news, but investors have their hands full with about 129 companies expected to report earnings.<\/p>\n

More than 20, including Microsoft and Apple, will be delivering earnings on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Analysts forecast that second-quarter earnings by companies in the S&P 500 will shrink 3.4 percent compared with the prior year, according to S&P Capital IQ.<\/p>\n

Earnings are taking center stage once again as fears over a Greek exit from the euro have abated.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Greek banks reopened for the first time in more than three weeks. The European Union sent Athens the short-term money it needs to pay off a 4.2 billion-euro ($4.6 billion) debt to the European Central Bank and clear its arrears with the International Monetary Fund. Other hurdles remain before Greece secures its third bailout.<\/p>\n

In energy futures trading, the price of oil continued its nearly three-week slump as it fell with other commodities over concerns over weakening demand in China.<\/p>\n

Benchmark U.S. crude dipped below $50 briefly for the first time since April and closed down 74 cents to $50.15 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, fell 45 cents to close at $56.65 in London.<\/p>\n

In other futures trading on the NYMEX, wholesale gasoline rose 0.1 cent to close at $1.930 a gallon. Heating oil fell 0.6 cent to close at $1.658 a gallon. Natural gas fell 4.7 cents to close at $2.823 per 1,000 cubic feet.<\/p>\n

Precious and industrial metals futures ended lower. Gold slumped $25.10 to $1,106.80 an ounce. Gold is trading at a five-year low as its appeal as a safe haven asset and a hedge against inflation have waned. Silver lost 8 cents to $14.75 an ounce. Copper fell two cents to $2.48 a pound.<\/p>\n

U.S. government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.38 percent from 2.35 percent late Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. stocks ended slightly higher on Monday after a mostly listless day of trading. The Nasdaq composite managed to eke …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":22375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","mauthors-alex-veiga","mauthors-the-associated-press1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}