Off the wire
• Ivankovic likely to replace Queiroz to lead Iran's soccer team: Report  • Cyber criminals threaten economy, security: Nigerian official  • Fidel Castro attends closing ceremony of Cuba's Communist Party Congress  • At least 150,000 children affected by Ecuador earthquake: UNICEF  • French president worried over delayed Syria talks in Geneva  • Update: Air strike kills 44 in Syria's rebel-held Idlib   • Egyptian police kills vendor over tea price  • Xinhua world news summary at 1545 GMT, April 19  • Nigerian gov't loses bid to conduct secret trial of former security adviser  • Urgent: Raul Castro to serve second term as head of Cuban Communist Party  
You are here: 　 Home

U.S. stocks fluctuate amid earnings, data

Xinhua, April 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks wavered narrowly in the morning session Tuesday, as Wall Street digested quarterly earnings reports from big companies and the country's housing market data.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 56.97 points, or 0.32 percent, to 18,061.13. The S&P 500 inched up 2.97 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,097.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 25.45 points, or 0.51 percent, to 4,934.57.

Shares of Goldman Sachs rose about 2 percent around midday Tuesday after the company delivered quarterly earnings above estimates and revenues shy of forecasts. Before Tuesday's opening bell, Goldman Sachs reported net revenues of 6.34 billion U.S. dollars and net earnings of 1.14 billion dollars for the first quarter ending March 31, 2016.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson jumped nearly 2 percent around midday Tuesday after the release of the consumer products and drug company's better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

On the economic front, U.S. privately-owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,089,000 units, reported the Commerce Department Tuesday.

This is 8.8 percent below the revised February estimate of 1,194,000 units, but is 14.2 percent above the March 2015 rate of 954,000 units.

Oil prices were also in focus, which rebounded strongly around midday Tuesday as an oil workers' strike in Kuwait nearly halved crude production of Kuwait, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

On Monday, U.S. stocks rallied, with the Dow closing above the round-number mark of 18,000 points for the first time since July 20, 2015, as investors shook off worries over the failure of oil producers to agree on an output freeze in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend. Endit