Off the wire
• UN announces accepting nominations for first Nelson Mandela Prize  • Airstrikes in Yemen leave 120,000 people displaced: UN  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks drift lower ahead of earning reports  • Temperature rise might lead to fish stock change in North Sea: study  • U.S., AU sign agreement to establish African CDC  • Malawi government to repatriate 400 stranded Malawians from South Africa  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises against euro on policy divergence  • Army troops hit by bomb in southern Yemen, 15 killed  • Urgent: U.S. stocks drift lower ahead of earning reports  • Israel criticizes Russian decision to sell advanced air-defense missiles to Iran  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: U.S. stocks drift lower ahead of earning report

Xinhua, April 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks pared early gains to end lower on Monday, snapping a three-day winning streak, as investors awaited the rollout of quarterly earnings from big companies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 80.61 points, or 0.45 percent, to 17,977.04. The S&P 500 lost 9.63 points, or 0.46 percent, to 2,092.43. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 7.73 points, or 0.15 percent, to 4,988.25.

Earnings season shifts into high gear this week with results from blue chip JPMorgan expected out before Tuesday's opening bell. Other big companies like Wells Fargo, Johnson & Johnson and Intel will also announce their quarterly earnings Tuesday.

According to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research report, the S&P 500's bottom-up EPS (Earnings Per Share) for the first quarter of 2015 has come down 8 percent over the last three months. This quarter marks the first since 2009 in which analysts expect earnings to decline year on year.

Though no major economic data is due Monday, this is still a big week for data in the United States, as March retail sales and the Producer Price Index (PPI) will be released on Tuesday, and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is scheduled for Friday.

Overseas, Chinese Shanghai Composite Index surged 2.17 percent to 4,121.72 points on Monday, a new seven-year high. Hong Kong equities continued to soar with the benchmark Hang Seng index rising 2.73 percent to 28,016.34 points, its highest level since January 2008.

In corporate news, shares of Netflix surged 4.42 percent to 474. 68 U.S. dollars apiece on Monday, after analyst firm UBS upgraded the video streaming company from "neutral" to "buy" ahead of the company's Wednesday earnings report.

U.S. stocks ended higher last Friday, marking a three-day rally with the Dow topping 18,000 for the first time in April, boosted by General Electric's restructuring plan and a broad-based stock increase around the world.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, rose 10.81 percent to end at 13.94 Monday.

In other markets, crude prices continued to rise Monday amid the speculation that the low price will curb the surplus supply.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery gained 27 cents to settle at 51.91 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for May delivery moved up 6 cents to close at 57. 93 dollars a barrel.

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against other currencies Monday amid monetary policy divergences between the U.S. central bank and its peers in other major economies.

In late New York trading, the euro moved down to 1.0569 dollars from 1.0606 dollars in the previous session. The greenback bought 120.08 Japanese yen, lower than 120.19 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell on Monday as the U.S. dollar gained strength, with the most active gold contract for June delivery down 5.3 dollars, or 0.44 percent, to settle at 1,199.30 dollars per ounce. Endite