While you were sleeping: Goldman drops, Netflix jumps

Wednesday 19th July 2017

Wall Street was mixed as shares of Goldman Sachs declined on disappointing revenue from its bond trading, while shares of Netflix soared after it reported better-than-expected subscriber growth.

The US dollar slid, hitting its lowest level against the euro in a year, amid concern about President Donald Trump’s ability to progress with his plans to boost the economy as his health-care reform efforts appeared to go nowhere.

"The setback for Trump is a setback for the US dollar," Kathy Lien, managing director at BK Asset Management in New York, told Reuters. "Based upon the failed repeal of Obamacare, I think that really casts doubt on the Trump administration's broader strategies."

While the greenback will draw some support from another Federal Reserve interest rate increase expected later in the year, current sentiment is tepid.

“Near term, the [US] dollar path of least resistance is down," Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank in Sydney, told Bloomberg. "We still think the data—inflation in particular —will provide the Fed with enough ammunition to hike in December and boost the dollar, but this is a fourth-quarter story.”

Others agree that the appetite for the US dollar might be limited.

“The combination of low inflation, low rates and low reform momentum give investors little reason to hold [US] dollars,” John Normand, head of FX, commodities and international rates research at JPMorgan Chase, wrote in a report Tuesday, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, US Treasuries rose, sending yields on the 10-year note five basis points lower to 2.27 percent.

Wall Street was mixed. In 3.25pm trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3 percent. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.4 percent, bolstered by a rally in Netflix shares. In 3.10pm trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index inched 0.01 percent lower.

The Nasdaq touched a record high 6,344.55.

Shares of Netflix jumped, up 13.8 percent as of 3.30pm in New York, after the company posted quarterly results that surpassed expectations including for its growth in subscribers.

The Dow fell as declines in shares of Goldman Sachs and those of Home Depot, recently 2.4 percent and 1.2 percent weaker respectively, outweighed gains in shares of Johnson & Johnson and those of Procter & Gamble, recently up 1.7 percent and 1.1 percent respectively.

Shares of Goldman Sachs dropped after the bank posted earnings that disappointed when it came to commodities and bond trading.

Shares of Bank of America declined, down 0.5 percent as of 3.39pm in New York, after the bank fell short of expectations in its net interest income.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the session with a drop of 1.1 percent from the previous close. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index fell 0.2 percent, while France’s CAC40 Index slid 1.1 percent, and Germany’s DAX Index dropped 1.3 percent.

Weighing on the mood in Europe were shares of Ericsson, which sank 16 percent after the company's latest quarterly earnings failed to meet expectations.

(BusinessDesk)

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