Until recently, utility stocks seemed like yesterday’s news. Their days as bond substitutes looked numbered as interest rates climbed from ultralow levels. Their dividend yields—about 2.5% to 3% in recent times—seemed sure to be eclipsed by higher bond yields. Then something happened: Bond yields failed to climb much. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury […]
Fireworks celebrating the Fourth of July have long since ended, and U.S. stock-market investors shouldn’t expect the fireworks on Wall Street to show up again either. Despite heavy and ongoing volatility, July has so far proved to be a strong month for the major equity indexes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.88% has gained […]
One of the stock market’s worst fears has been a trade war, yet U.S. large cap stocks have tagged on nearly 3 percent in the five sessions just before and after Friday’s trade actions, where the U.S. and China each slapped tariffs on $34 billion in each other’s goods. “I think there’s still this belief […]
A sell-off in Chinese markets knocked Asian stocks on Wednesday as U.S. threats of tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods pushed the world’s two biggest economies ever closer to a full-scale trade war. Washington proposed the extra tariffs after efforts to negotiate a solution to the dispute failed to reach an […]
Stocks pared gains Tuesday afternoon, with a downward reversal in small caps and energy stocks contributing to a softening session on Wall Street. The Russell 2000 made a record high at the open but erased gains and was off 0.6% in afternoon trading. Small-cap financial and health care stocks were lower, causing much of the […]
Stocks closed higher on Tuesday as the latest corporate earnings season got under way while worries of an ongoing trade war declined. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 143.07 points to 24,919.66 as DowDuPont and Procter & Gamble outperformed. The 30-stock index also posted its fourth straight day of gains. The S&P 500 gained 0.4 […]
Morgan Stanley downgraded technology stocks to underweight from equal weight on Monday, citing expectations of a more defensive turn in the market. Cyclical sectors such as technology and consumer discretionary tend to perform better during periods of growth, when investors are more willing to take on risk. Now Morgan Stanley Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Michael […]
Last week’s rally, led by the Nasdaq composite, signaled the stock market is looking healthier. But which stocks and sectors are likely to lead? The FANG+ stocks of Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix (NFLX) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) generally have been performing well. Salesforce.com (CRM) and other software stocks have been winners. […]
With the S&P 500 not far from the firm’s 2018 year-end target, Goldman Sachs says there is still an investment strategy that can outperform. The firm recommended companies with high and stable profit margins. That’s because despite the one-time boost to profit from the corporate tax cut, companies face a number of challenges to maintaining […]
Cannabis stocks in Canada are poised to surge with the recent announcement that adult use of marijuana will be legal in that country starting in October, which will encourage more investments this budding sector. Recreational use of cannabis has been legalized in Canada with sales starting on Oct. 17, which will be met with enthusiasm […]
Stocks rose last week as news of continued healthy growth in the job market offset investor concerns about global trade skirmishes. Both the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES:^DJI) gained about a percentage point in the shortened trading week, leaving the indexes straddling the breakeven point for year-to-date returns: Investors will […]
Asian shares rose on Monday, taking cues from Wall Street’s advance following the release of strong employment data for the month of June. Meanwhile, investors continued to keep an eye on trade after the U.S. and China exchanged tariffs last week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.27 percent, buoyed by the move higher in the electric […]
