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Nasdaq defies the trend, closing at new high

Last updated: 17:05 22 Nov 2017 EST, First published: 08:00 22 Nov 2017 EST

Janet Yellen, chair of the Federal Reserve
  • S&P 500 2 points lower at 2,597

  • Dow Jones down 65 at 23,526

  • Nasdaq Composite rose 5 to 6,867

  • Fed indicates rate rise is on its way in December

  • Qualcomm wanted on rumors Broadcom is going to up its offer

Stocks closed the day mostly lower after minutes from the recent Federal Reserve meeting indicated support for a December interest rate hike.

The Dow Jones average shed 65 points at 23,526 and the S&P 500 fell 2 points to 2,597, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite defied the trend and rose 5 to 6,867.

Nasdaq-listed stock Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) hardened 2.2% to US$68.13 on rumors that Broadcom is considering raising its bid for the networking equipment chip-maker.

The minutes from the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) revealed that the Fed's policy makers are confident that the economy could withstand a rate increase next month.

“The minutes reflected a fairly uniform view that there was strong economic momentum and labor market performance continued to improve,” noted German bank, Berenberg Capital Markets. 

“In contrast, the minutes reflect mixed views about inflation among the FOMC members. Most FOMC members believed that inflation would move higher in the medium term, but it may take longer to return to 2% than currently expected because of non-cyclical factors, the possibility of more labor market slack than currently estimated, and delayed or diminished responsiveness of inflation to resource utilization.

“Several participants were concerned about the impact of consistently soft inflation on inflation expectations. On the other hand, some members worried about the upside risks to inflation in light of current strong economic conditions and robust labor markets,” the bank observed.

US financial markets will be shut for Thanksgiving on Thursday and the NYSE and Nasdaq equity markets will close early on Friday at 1.00pm Eastern time.

Across the border, the S&P/TSX Composite index fell 3 points to 16,074.

Mid-session: S&P joins the Dow in the dog-house

The S&P had joined the Dow Jones in negative territory by the lunchtime session, as investors sat on their hands.

The Federal Reserve is set to release the minutes from its November rate-discussion meeting, while tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, so traders were not in the mood to push the boat out.

The Dow Jones was down 62 at 23,527 and the S&P was off a couple of points at 2,597.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) was the worst blue-chip performer after it was announced last night that high-profile chief executive Meg Whitman would be quitting the role but would remain on the board.

The shares were off 8% at US$13.00.

Security technology company NXT-ID Inc (NASDAQ:NXTD) rallied strongly, rising 26% to US$1.39 as it settled shareholders' nerves by saying the strong downward pressure on the stock in recent days was “not reflective of the underlying value of our company”.

“On year-to-year basis, we continue to out-perform in terms of revenue, gross profit, and operating income, particularly through LogicMark, which continues to perform at record levels,” said Gino Pereira, chief executive officer of NXT-ID. 

Open: Mixed start as investors wait on the release of the Fed's meeting minutes 

Stocks opened mixed in the wake of durable goods and jobs data.

The Dow Jones Average was down 11 points at 23,580 but the S&P 500 was up half a point or so at 2,599.4.

US durable goods fell 1.2% month-on-month in October, but excluding the transportation sector were up 0.4%.

“Core durable goods shipments (non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft) that matters for GDP rose by 0.4% m/m in October, increasing for the ninth consecutive month and tying with April-December 1994 for the longest streak of monthly gains in this series,” noted Berenberg Capital Markets.

“Core shipments were up 10% y/y in October, one of the best y/y gains in the 25-year history of the series.

“Expect business equipment investment to make another significant contribution to Q4 real GDP, which is already on track to increase by an annualized 3%,” it added.

Initial jobless claims last week fell 13,000 to 239,750.

Later on today, the Federal Reserve will be releasing the minutes from its November meeting.

Cleantech Solutions International Inc (NASDAQ:CLNT) more than doubled after its Vantage subsidiary entered into a conditional share swap agreement with Marvel Finance Limited, to acquire Marvel's 51% interest in the issued share capital of Integrated Media Technology Limited (NASDAQ:IMTE).

CHF Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:CHFS), in contrast, lost more than two-fifths of its value after it announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of Series F convertible preferred stock.

The stock is convertible at US$4.50. CHF shares tumbled US$3.43 to US$4.45 on the news.

Pre-open: Investors set to go Deere hunting

Heavy equipment maker Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) posted its third consecutive quarter of earnings growth this morning.

That was enough for investors to go Deere-hunting, with the shares rising 5% to US$139.23 in pre-market trading.

Full-year net income of US$2.16bn was up from US$1.52bn the year before.

Earnings per share rose to US$6.68 from US$4.81 the year before.

“We saw higher overall demand for our products with farm machinery sales in South America making especially strong gains and construction equipment sales rising sharply,” said Samuel Allen, chairman and chief executive officer of Deere.

Technology news site TechCrunch has reported that consumer electronics titan Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) has acquired Vrvana, a maker of an augmented reality headset.

According to TechCrunch, Apple paid pocket change – US$30mln – for the company.

Apple's stock was marginally higher in pre-market trading, up 31 cents at US$173.45.

Traders were making a bit of a song and dance about Indian films distributor Eros International PLC (NYSE:EROS),.

The shares were up 3.8% at US$13.85 in screen-based trading after the company reported its paying subscriber base at the end of September was more than 70% higher at 3.7mln than it had been six months earlier.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the three months to the end of September clocked in at US$15.1mln, up from US$13.7mln in the third quarter of last year.  

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