U.S. stocks post weekly gains amid corporate earnings, growth worries
U.S. stocks advanced in the week ending Feb. 8 as investors were cheered by a slew of robust corporate results, but the gains were capped by renewed concerns over global economic slowdown.
For the week, the Dow climbed 0.17 percent, the S&P 500 eked out a small gain of 0.05 percent and the Nasdaq rose 0.47 percent.
The equities traded roughly on a downbeat note on Friday with the Dow dropping 286.49 points at its low. The major indexes were lifted well off their lows in the final minutes of trading. The rebound helped the Dow and Nasdaq notch their seventh straight weekly gains.
Fears over a possible slowdown of global growth and trade uncertainties were reignited this week.
The European Commission on Thursday cut its 2019 growth forecast to 1.3 percent from 1.9 percent in 2018. Growth forecasts for Germany, France, Italy and Spain were cut.
The projections reignited fears that the global economy may be slowing down.
Wall Street also grew concerned about global trade disputes. Trade issues have been a big part of market anxieties since 2018.
Trade uncertainties and growing worries over the global economy coincide with a deteriorating earnings outlook for 2019.
Earnings for the first quarter of 2019 are expected to contract by more than 1 percent, according to CNBC, citing data from FactSet.
Earlier of this week, the markets were bolstered by a slew of upbeat earnings.
U.S. consumer goods maker Clorox reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings on Monday.
Google-parent Alphabet posted its fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that both beat estimates after Monday's close.
U.S. beauty products company Estee Lauder had a big day on Tuesday. The stock soared 11.64 percent after the company reported stronger-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings and raised its full-year outlook. Adjusted earnings for the company came to 1.86 U.S. dollars per share, well above analyst consensus of 1.55 dollar a piece surveyed by the FactSet.
Entertainment giant The Walt Disney company reported earnings and revenue both topped estimates after the close on Tuesday, sending the stock up about 2 percent in afterhours trading.
"U.S. stock market has been rebounding nicely in the New Year. New housing numbers are strong. No interest rate hike. The U.S. dollar stays in a quiet range. I can say I see higher averages in the market," John Monaco, a trader at Wellington Shields & Co. LLC, told Xinhua.
Wall Street also kept a close eye on U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Capitol Hill on Tuesday night.
Trump touched upon a variety of topics and priorities of his administration, including immigration, trade and economy, infrastructure, health care, and national security.
He also called for unity and bipartisanship, given a divided Congress after two years of bitter partisan fight and heightened political polarization.
On the economic front, in the week ending Feb. 2, U.S. initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, registered 234,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday. The reading missed market consensus.
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