U.S. stocks moved ahead for the fifth day in six trading session after JPMorgan Chase’s profits beat Wall Street estimates in the first quarter. But Citigroup will report earnings on Friday with estimates pointing towards a loss.
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[li][B]JPMorgan Profits 25% Greater Than Estimates[/B] [/li][li][B]Initial Jobless Claims Beat Expectations[/B] [/li][/ul]
[B]Stocks Close Near Daily Highs on JPMorgan Earnings[/B]
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U.S. stocks moved ahead for the fifth day in six trading session after [B]JPMorgan Chase’s [/B]profits beat Wall Street estimates in the first quarter. The U.S.’s second largest bank reported earnings of 40 cents per share, larger than the 32 cents per share expected by a survey of analysts. S&P financials reacted gleefully, allowing the banking stock sub-index to double since Mar. 5th. Broadly speaking, the market failed to react as enthusiastically as some would have anticipated on the JPMorgan Chase news. Investors might need to clear one more hurdle if they are to trust the financial sector once again. [B]Citigroup[/B] will report earnings on Friday with estimates pointing towards a loss. Indeed, the once largest U.S. bank by market capitalization is expected to report a loss of 32 cents per share. The bank has a possibility of beating these forecasts; let’s keep in mind that their CEO, Vikram Pandit, stated in a leaked internal memo that the first two months of the quarter were substantially more profitable than anticipated. Labor data showed a slightly better picture of the economy. Initial Jobless Claims rose by 610,000, better than the expected figure of 665,000.
[B]Dow 30 8125.43 +95.81 +1.38%[/B]
Blue chips had a mixed day with Oil & Gas being the only sector to slip. The mostly-up-day saw the index gain as much as 1.9% before profit-taking forced bids down.
[B]SPX 500 865.30 +13.24 +1.55%[/B]
Implied volatility on the S&P 500 continued a three-day decline, falling by 0.38 points to 35.79. Every sector in the index finished ahead with the very cyclical Technology and Industrials leading the pact.
[B]NAS 100 852.06 +43.64 +2.68%[/B]
Technology stocks were one of the best performing ones today. Finishing ahead 3.37% with the NASDAQ as a whole advancing as much as 3.02% before dwindling downward in the final hour of trading. Google made news today after it reported an 8.9% increase in its Q1 profit. Earnings per share came out to $4.49 after job cuts saved the search engine much needed cash after sales growth slowed.
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[B][U]Notable US Event Risk / Economic Releases[/U][/B][B][/B]
