New York Report: Wall Street rebounds as strong figures boost retailers’ stocks
THE S&P 500 bounced yesterday to end a four-day losing skid, as earnings from Best Buy and TJX Cos helped buoy retailers and consumer discretionary stocks.
TJX Cos was the top boost to the S&P 500 after the owner of the discount T.J. Maxx and Marshalls chains reported better-than-expected quarterly sales, bucking a trend of weak results by a number of retailers. Its shares gained 6.9 per cent to $54.24.
Along with TJX, Best Buy and JC Penney also rose.
The S&P retail index climbed 1.2 per cent while the S&P consumer discretionary index rose 0.9 per cent as the best performing of the 10 major S&P sectors.
But US Treasuries yields, although down from Monday, were still at two-year highs, encouraging investors to dump riskier assets like stocks to buy US government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note dipped to as low as 2.80 per cent yesterday from 2.88 per cent on Monday.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 7.75 points or 0.05 per cent, to 15,002.99, the S&P 500 gained 6.29 points or 0.38 per cent, to 1,652.35 and the Nasdaq Composite added 24.504 points or 0.68 per cent, to 3,613.59.