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US stocks punch higher after Turkey and earnings results upset sentiment

Last updated: 11:33 18 Jul 2016 EDT, First published: 06:33 18 Jul 2016 EDT

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US stocks rose on Monday, after opening with a mild nosebleed, struggling for direction as investors analysed the turmoil of Turkey’s failed coup and with the second quarter earnings season continuing to pick up pace from last week’s launch in the banking sector.

Last week the S&P 500 bellwether index came close to have its first five successive days of record gains inside the same week since 1998.

On Monday, it headed south but was last seen up 0.3% at 2,167 – still shy of its record high of around 2,170.

More than 90 companies listed on the S&P 500 are scheduled to report earnings this week, with Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) out earlier in the day and those from IBM (NYSE:IBM), Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) due later today.

If last week JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) exceeded buoyant earnings forecasts and Citigroup’s (NYSE:C) second quarter wasn’t as bad as feared, then BoA was able to deliver a forecast-beating result.

The top US retail bank felt the wrath of ultra-low interest rates as well as the worsening prospect that rates will rise any time soon but still delivered more than acceptable results.

Between April and June BoA delivered net income of $4.2bn – a recovery from the $2.68bn recording during the troublesome first quarter, helped by a bounce back at the trading operations of its investment bank division, but down $5.1bn from the comparative period a year ago.

That was equivalent to earnings per share for the second quarter of $0.38 compared to $0.46 last year, and a return on equity of 6.48%.

BoA shares rose 2.6% to $14.02 on Monday.

It was more of a game-changer at Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) – at least at first. Games such as Frozen and Star Wars helped save the day at the US toymaker during the second quarter.

Famous for Play-Doh and real estate board game Monopoly, Hasbro reported revenues and profits that smashed Wall Street expectations thanks to strong sales of Frozen and Star Wars-branded products.

Revenues for the quarter to June 26 came in at $878.9mln, a 10% vault from the previous year and ahead of the $859.4mln analysts had expected.

But it wasn’t “happily ever after” as within 90 minutes the Hasbro stock came off amid fears of a Star Wars sales slowdown.

Marking the kind of excitement reserved for the board games, the stock fell more than 7 per cent to a three month low of $79.51 after Jefferies expressed concerns that the boost that Hasbro’s all important boys division has been getting from Star Wars products could be fading.

Hasbro shares were last down 7.3% at $79.20 on Monday.


Preview

Wall Street shares are set to continue upwards on the bell after record highs were reached last week.

It comes as European equities fall but London shares are heading higher, dominated by news that chip designer ARM Holdings plc (LON:lARM) shares are rocketing up over 42% after it agreed to an eye-watering £23.4bn takeover offer from Japan's Softbank.

Commentators are saying it could be the first major global consolidation move triggered  the post-Brexit collapse in the value of UL sterling.

On Friday last week, the market barometer S&P 500 index closed down 0.09% at 2,161, after starting the session with an intraday record high of 2,169.05.

The Dow Jones closed 0.5% up at 18, 516, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.09% to 25,024, while the broader S&P500 also shed 0.09% at 2,161.

Futures show the Dow Jones 30 ahead; the Nasdaq is 11 higher, while the S&P500 is up over five.

Last night, most Asian markets ended the day in positive territory, although the two mainland Chinese indexes dipped slightly into the red.

Turkey's  ISE National 100 index is reportedly down around 5% following the failed attempted coup in the country.

Reportedly, nearly 8,000 police officers have been suspended on suspicion of having links to the coup, while 6,000 members of the judiciary and military, including generals, have also been detained.

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