Stock Sentiment Lifted by Earnings, Trade Optimism
October 21,2019 12:22 PM EST
Stocks traded higher on Monday, boosted by optimism around U.S.-China trade talks as well as the corporate earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average regained 21.68 points to reach noon at 26,791.88.
The S&P 500 tallied 14.92 points to 3,001.17. The NASDAQ Composite re-strengthened 61.63 points to 8,151.46.
Apple shares led the Dow higher, rising more than 1% to a record high after an analyst at Raymond James hiked his price target on the tech giant to $380 per share from $250. Those gains offset a 3.8% drop in Boeing''s stock.
Investors were also focused on the corporate earnings season, with more than 120 S&P 500 companies on deck to report. McDonald''s, Ford Motor, Boeing and Caterpillar are among the companies set to release their results.
The earnings season got off to a strong start as companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Netflix and Citigroup posted better-than-expected results. To be sure, companies are beating muted estimates. Analysts expect overall S&P 500 earnings for the third quarter to have fallen by 4.7%.
Cadence Design Systems, Celanese and Zions Bancorp are among some of the companies poised to report their latest quarterly figures after the market close Monday.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said over the weekend Beijing would work with the U.S. to address one another''s trade concerns. He also said both sides have made "substantial progress" on trade. China''s chief negotiator in the trade talks also said that stopping the trade war would be good for both countries — as well as the global economy.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, raising yields to 1.79% from Friday''s 1.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices skidded 78 cents to $53.00 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slumped $6.20 to $1,487.90 U.S. an ounce.
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