While you were sleeping: Apple, Boeing soar

Thursday 29th January 2015

Wall Street gained, led by Boeing and Apple, as both companies reported earnings that surpassed expectations.

In afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.36 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.22 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.57 percent.

The Dow advanced, propelled by gains in shares of Boeing and those of Cisco, up 6.4 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.

Shares of Apple climbed, last up 7.8 percent, after the company reported a record profit of US$18 billion. It was one of the largest profits in corporate history.

The results were fuelled by all time record revenue from iPhone and Mac sales as well as record performance of the App Store, while iPhone unit sales of 74.5 million also set a new record, according to Apple.

Boeing also posted results that exceeded expectations.

"Strong operating performance in the final quarter of 2014 propelled us to some of our best ever results and sealed a fifth consecutive year of core operating earnings growth,” Boeing chief executive officer Jim McNerney said in a statement. "Our Commercial Airplanes business successfully increased production rates and set an industry record for annual deliveries while also growing its backlog to new highs on record new orders for the year.”

Shares of Chevron and Exxon Mobil bucked the trend, down 1.8 percent and 1.3 percent respectively. Barclays and Goldman Sachs downgraded their outlook for oil.

"We expect to see further downside to prices in the next few months, with both WTI and Brent likely to trade into the high US$30s before the oil price decline is arrested," Barclays analyst Michael Cohen said in a note to clients, according to Reuters.

Oil prices dropped, with WTI last down 2.9 percent and Brent down 1.5 percent.

“The energy situation is one where the price of oil is going to be an ugly thing until such time as it’s not,” Brian Barish, who helps oversee about US$11.5 billion at Denver based Cambiar Investors, told Bloomberg Business.

Investors are eyeing a statement from US Federal Reserve policy makers at the end of a two day meeting on Wednesday, with all eyes on the wording about when an interest rate increase is likely to happen.

"The Fed will follow through and normalise rates later this year. Our thinking is June. I would not debate anybody who said September," Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics, told Reuters.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index ended the day with a 0.1 percent advance from the previous close, after swinging back and forth between gains and losses throughout the session. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.2 percent, while Germany’s DAX Index increased 0.8 percent. France’s CAC 40 Index fell 0.3 percent.

The Greek benchmark stock index tanked 9.2 percent, amid concern about the country’s new government led by they leftist Syriza party. The nation’s major banks each shed more than 25 percent of their stock value.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Wednesday halted privatisation plans agreed under the country's bailout deal with the Euruopean Union and the International Monetary Fund, according to Reuters.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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