The S&P 500 created a new intraday high of $1,693.12 during today’s trading. The previous peak was $1,687.18 on May 22 of this year. The index closed the day up 0.4% led by the financial and energy sectors. Tech and telecom were the lagging sectors, affected by the earnings miss from Verizon (VZ). The strength in the financial sector was due to strong earnings from Morgan Stanley (MS), BlackRock (BLK), and Blackstone (BX). The index finished the day up 1.2%, and Morgan Stanley closed up 4%.
Initial jobless claims fell to a two-month low of 334K versus the 344K consensus. The Bloomberg consumer comfort index fell slightly short of the -27.3 expected, with a reading of -28.4. The Philadelphia regional manufacturing survey showed very strong growth in July with a better-than-expected reading of 19.8 versus the 9.0 consensus. Gains came from upticks in shipments and employment. Ben Bernanke testified in front of the Senate Banking Committee today and did not make any drastically different comments on monetary policy from the prior day’s testimony.
Shares of eBay (EBAY) and Intel (INTC) fell on the day after releasing disappointing earnings after the close yesterday.
The 10-year yield climbed 5 bps to 2.54%. Crude oil continued to push higher, finishing up 1.6% to $108.16 per barrel. Gold rose 0.6% to $1,286 per ounce. Natural gas pushed up more than 5% after an inventory reading from EIA showed a much smaller-than-expected growth in stockpiles.
Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) both got whacked on a pair of atrocious earnings reports. Google fell $45 from its closing price in post-market trading and Microsoft was down more than 5%. Microsoft blamed its decline in profitability to the PC business and suffered writedowns related to its Surface tablets.
General Electric (GE), Kansas City Southern (KSU), Schlumberger Limited (SLB), and State Street (STT) are due to release earnings tomorrow.
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