New York Report: US stock index given boost by good results
US stocks rebounded yesterday after Pfizer’s upbeat results gave investors some relief from the pain of the Dow’s five-day losing streak, and the focus turned to the Federal Reserve’s next move on stimulus.
The market’s advance, which also broke the S&P 500’s three-day slide, came after heavy losses tied to concerns about the withdrawal of US monetary stimulus as well as worries about emerging markets, including a slowdown in China’s growth and political turmoil from Turkey to Thailand. Last week, the S&P 500 marked its worst percentage loss since June 2012.
After the close, US stock index futures rallied after Turkey’s central bank sharply raised its interest rates, giving further relief to investors. S&P 500 e-mini futures shot up 20 points on volume of 1.7M contracts.
Bucking the day’s trend, stocks in Apple dropped eight per cent to close at $506.50 – its worst slide in a year – a day after holiday iPhone sales missed expectations. Apple’s slide limited the gains of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
Shares of Pfizer jumped 2.6 per cent to close at $30.42, boosting both the Dow and S&P 500 after the biggest US drugmaker reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 90.68 points or 0.57 per cent, to end at 15,928.56.
The S&P 500 gained 10.94 points or 0.61 per cent, to finish at 1,792.50. The Nasdaq Composite added 14.35 points or 0.35 per cent, to close at 4,097.96. The S&P 500 remains below its 50-day moving average, after closing below it on Friday for the first time since 9 October.