Stock Market News For Jul 16, 2019

Wall Street’s rally continued on Monday buoyed by hopes of a Fed rate cut later this month. Moreover, fresh trade negotiations between the United States and China also boosted investor sentiment. However, market participants remained cautious and were closely monitoring second-quarter 2019 earnings results. All three major stock indexes ended in the green.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) gained 0.1% to close at 27.359.16. The S&P 500 added 0.53 points to close at 3,014.30. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 8,258.19, increasing 0.2%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) increased 2.3% to close at 12.68. A total of 5.39 billion shares were traded on Monday, lower than the last 20-session average of 6.69 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.04-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.06-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow closed in positive territory for the fourth successive day with 24 components of the 30-stock blue-chip index closing in the green while six finished in the red. The S&P 500 also closed in positive territory for the fifth consecutive day. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE (NYSE:XLE)) and FinancialsSelect Sector SPDR (XLF) lost 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively. Notably, eight out of 11 sectors of the benchmark index closed in the green while three ended in the red. The Nasdaq Composite ended in the green for the third straight-day due to strong performance from large-cap stocks.

Citigroup Declines Despite Strong Second-Quarter Earnings

Banking giant Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) reported strong earnings results in the second-quarter 2019. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.83, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.78. Revenues of $18.76 billion outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $18.31 billion. (Read More)

Despite strong results, shares of Citigroup declined 0.1% as investors were expecting the banking behemoth to cut operating costsmore aggressively compensate for the weak performance of the company’s trading businesses.

This led to the decline in shares of other major banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) by 1.2% and 1.1%, respectively. All three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

U.S-China Trade Talks to Restart

In a positive development, U.S.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are likely to travel to Beijing next week for trade negotiations provided telephonic talks held this week are productive.

On Jul 15, Munchin told reporters in a While House briefing “We expect to have another principal-level call this week, and to the extent we make significant progress, I think there’s a good chance we’ll go there later.”

Meanwhile, China reported that its GDP grew 6.2% year over year in the second quarter, marking its slowest pace of growth since the first quarter of 1992. Notably, Beijing lowered its annual economic growth target to 6.0% from 6.5% for 2019.

However, China’s industrial production in June surged 6.3% from 5% in May. Retail sales jumped 9.8% in June from 8.6% in May. Moreover, fixed-asset investment for the first half of the year climbed 5.8% from prior-year period, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Stocks That Made Headline

J.B. Hunt Gains on Q2 Earnings Beat, Revenues Up Y/Y

J.B. Hunt Transport Services’ (NASDAQ:JBHT) second-quarter 2019 earnings (excluding 14 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.37 per share outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2 cents. (Read More)

Callon to Acquire Carrizo for $3.2B, Boost Permian Footprint

Callon Petroleum Co. (NYSE:C) recently announced that the company has struck an all-stock deal to acquire Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. (NYSE:C) (Read More)

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