Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Stock Market Today: Wall Street Ticks Higher and Adds to Its Records
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 months ago on
October 14, 2024

Wall Street continues its upward trend, with major indexes adding to record highs amid mixed global market reactions. (AP File)

Share

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are ticking higher Monday to add to their all-time highs.

The S&P 500 was up 0.5% in midday trading and building on its record set on Friday The Dow Jones Industrial Average came back from an early loss to rise 118 points and add 0.3% to its own record, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was up 0.6%.

The drift upward followed relatively quiet trading in Europe, while the U.S. bond market remained closed for the day because of a holiday.

The strongest action in global markets came from China, where the finance minister gave a highly anticipated update on Saturday about plans for the world’s second-largest economy. Lan Fo’an said the government is looking at additional ways to boost the economy, but he stopped short of unveiling a major new stimulus plan that investors were hoping for.

The lack of detail sent markets spinning. Stocks in Shanghai jumped 2.1%, but the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 0.7%. Crude oil prices, meanwhile, sank nearly 2% on worries about demand from China’s slowing economy.

Hopes for big stimulus in China have sent Chinese stocks sharply higher recently after they languished for years. But investors are skeptical about how much it can remake and restore the economy.

“While clearly welcome, the efforts may be insufficient to spur a new reflationary cycle,” according to Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Corporate News and Market Movements

Besides oil, prices also fell for copper and other commodities that a healthy Chinese economy would gobble up. That helped drive down prices for miners, such as Freeport-McMoRan, which fell 2.6% for one of the larger losses in the S&P 500.

Boeing lost 1.4% in its first trading since the aerospace giant warned that it expects to report that it burned through $1.3 billion in cash during the latest quarter and lost $9.97 per share. Boeing also said it was laying off 10% of its workforce as it tries to deal with a strike that is crippling production of the company’s best-selling airline planes.

On the winning side of Wall Street was SoFi Technologies. It rose 7.6% after announcing a $2 billion loan platform agreement with investment firm Fortress Investment Group, where SoFi will refer pre-qualified borrowers.

Longboard Pharmaceuticals soared 51.2% after H. Lundbeck, a Danish company, said it would buy the biopharmaceutical company in an all-cash deal valuing it at $2.6 billion.

Upcoming Economic Reports and Earnings Season

This upcoming week will have few top-tier economic reports outside Thursday’s update on sales at U.S. retailers to help guide trading. That will likely leave more emphasis on corporate earnings reports, which will pick up the pace this week after big banks began the reporting season last week.

Bank of America, Johnson and Johnson and UnitedHealth Group will all report their latest results on Tuesday. Later in the week will come United Airlines, Netflix, American Express and Procter & Gamble.

Analysts are looking for S&P 500 companies to deliver overall growth of 4.1% in earnings per share for the latest quarter from a year earlier, according to FactSet. If they’re correct, it would be a fifth straight quarter of growth.

Solid, continued growth in profits for companies would help tamp down criticism that’s built up about how expensive the broad stock market looks, after share prices ran higher faster than earnings.

Stocks have broadly rallied to records on relief that interest rates are finally heading back down, now that the Federal Reserve has widened its focus to include keeping the economy humming instead of just fighting high inflation. Recent reports showing the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected have also raised optimism that the Fed can pull off a perfect landing where it gets inflation down to 2% without causing a recession that many had thought would be necessary.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

This French Bulldog Is So Fetch: Meet Toaster Strudel

DON'T MISS

The Fed Expects to Cut Rates More Slowly in 2025. What That Could Mean for Mortgages, Debt and More

DON'T MISS

New California Voter ID Ban Puts Conservative Cities at Odds With State

DON'T MISS

Big Lots Holds Going-Out-of-Business Sales After Deal to Save Company Fails

DON'T MISS

University of California Campuses Resolve Discrimination Complaints Stemming From Gaza Protests

DON'T MISS

The Latest: House Approves New Government Funding Bill

DON'T MISS

Rams’ Matthew Stafford and Jets’ Aaron Rodgers Collide in Matchup of Familiar Foes

DON'T MISS

‘Embarrassing’ Night for Stephen Curry in 51-Point Loss at Memphis

DON'T MISS

Another Record for LeBron James in Lakers’ Win Over Kings

DON'T MISS

Meet Amy Allen, the Songwriter Behind the Music Stuck in Your Head

UP NEXT

The Fed Expects to Cut Rates More Slowly in 2025. What That Could Mean for Mortgages, Debt and More

UP NEXT

New California Voter ID Ban Puts Conservative Cities at Odds With State

UP NEXT

Big Lots Holds Going-Out-of-Business Sales After Deal to Save Company Fails

UP NEXT

University of California Campuses Resolve Discrimination Complaints Stemming From Gaza Protests

UP NEXT

The Latest: House Approves New Government Funding Bill

UP NEXT

Rams’ Matthew Stafford and Jets’ Aaron Rodgers Collide in Matchup of Familiar Foes

UP NEXT

‘Embarrassing’ Night for Stephen Curry in 51-Point Loss at Memphis

UP NEXT

Another Record for LeBron James in Lakers’ Win Over Kings

UP NEXT

Meet Amy Allen, the Songwriter Behind the Music Stuck in Your Head

UP NEXT

Netflix Signs US Broadcast Deal With FIFA for the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031

Big Lots Holds Going-Out-of-Business Sales After Deal to Save Company Fails

16 hours ago

University of California Campuses Resolve Discrimination Complaints Stemming From Gaza Protests

16 hours ago

The Latest: House Approves New Government Funding Bill

17 hours ago

Rams’ Matthew Stafford and Jets’ Aaron Rodgers Collide in Matchup of Familiar Foes

18 hours ago

‘Embarrassing’ Night for Stephen Curry in 51-Point Loss at Memphis

18 hours ago

Another Record for LeBron James in Lakers’ Win Over Kings

18 hours ago

Meet Amy Allen, the Songwriter Behind the Music Stuck in Your Head

18 hours ago

Netflix Signs US Broadcast Deal With FIFA for the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031

19 hours ago

Clovis Residents Can Draw the City’s Next Election Map

19 hours ago

All Netflix Wants for Christmas Is No Streaming Problems for Its First NFL Games

19 hours ago

This French Bulldog Is So Fetch: Meet Toaster Strudel

Toaster Strudel, a 3-to-4-year-old French bulldog, isn’t your average pup. This bundle of joy has a personality as vibrant as her name. With...

1 hour ago

Toaster Strudel, a cheerful French bulldog with a love for people and dogs, is ready to bring joy to her forever home. (Mell's Mutts)
1 hour ago

This French Bulldog Is So Fetch: Meet Toaster Strudel

4 hours ago

The Fed Expects to Cut Rates More Slowly in 2025. What That Could Mean for Mortgages, Debt and More

5 hours ago

New California Voter ID Ban Puts Conservative Cities at Odds With State

16 hours ago

Big Lots Holds Going-Out-of-Business Sales After Deal to Save Company Fails

16 hours ago

University of California Campuses Resolve Discrimination Complaints Stemming From Gaza Protests

17 hours ago

The Latest: House Approves New Government Funding Bill

Rams
18 hours ago

Rams’ Matthew Stafford and Jets’ Aaron Rodgers Collide in Matchup of Familiar Foes

18 hours ago

‘Embarrassing’ Night for Stephen Curry in 51-Point Loss at Memphis

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend