While you were sleeping: Wall St ticks higher

Thursday 25th May 2017

Wall Street moved higher as investors eyed minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting, slated for release on Wednesday afternoon, for fresh clues on the outlook for interest rate increases.

"Our US economists expect the minutes to come down on the hawkish side and continue to expect the Fed to hike in June and September and announce balance sheet reduction in December," Citi analysts wrote on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

In 11.34am trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.15 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index inched 0.05 percent higher. In 11.19pm trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.18 percent.

The Dow rose as gains in shares of DuPont and those of Coca-Cola, up 1.3 percent and 0.8 percent higher respectively, outweighed declines in shares of Verizon and those of Cisco, recently down 0.9 percent and 0.6 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, Bunge said it is not engaged in "business combination discussions" with Glencore, following a statement by the latter that it had made an informal approach "regarding a possible consensual business combination," adding that "discussions may or may not materialise and there is no certainty that any transaction will occur."

"Bunge is committed to continuing to execute its global agri-foods strategy and pursuing opportunities for driving growth and value creation," the company said in a statement.

Shares of Bunge traded 0.7 percent higher as of 10.52am in New York, following a 17 percent climb on Tuesday.

“It’s an acquisition for corporate strategy” rather than synergy, Steve Laveson, a portfolio manager for Becker Capital Management in Portland, Oregon, told Bloomberg. Becker owns more than 630,000 shares of Bunge.

There were disappointments on the earnings front. Shares of Lowe’s dropped, down 3.2 percent as of 11.33am in New York, after the home improvement chain reported quarterly earnings that fell short of expectations.

"From a stock perspective, the headline may not spark a lot excitement, as expectations had moved up into the print and the bar was set higher by [Home Depot]," Credit Suisse analyst Seth Sigman wrote in a note to clients, according to CNBC. "But, in our view, the story hasn't been Q1; with easier sales and comparisons starting in Q2, and healthy underlying trends, supporting potentially both EPS and valuation upside as we move through this year."

A National Association of Realtors report showed existing home sales fell 2.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units in April, amid "stubbornly low supply levels."

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said every major region except for the Midwest saw a retreat in existing sales in April.

"Last month's dip in closings was somewhat expected given that there was such a strong sales increase in March at 4.2 percent, and new and existing inventory is not keeping up with the fast pace homes are coming off the market," Yun said in the report. "Demand is easily outstripping supply in most of the country and it's stymieing many prospective buyers from finding a home to purchase."

In Europe, equities were mixed. Germany’s DAX Index fell 0.1 percent, while France’s CAC40 Index declined 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, the UK’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.4 percent, with gains led by a 3.3 percent rally in shares of easyJet.

(BusinessDesk)

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