Value stocks will lead market higher, says analyst
November 11, 2019Le Fonti International- November 11
November 12, 2019(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)
* Boeing expects resumption of 737 MAX commercial flights in Jan
* Qualcomm, Cisco drop after brokerage downgrades
* Walgreens gains on record buyout approach report
* Indexes: Dow up 0.02%, S&P down 0.24%, Nasdaq off 0.20% (Updates to early afternoon)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 11 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes fell on Monday, as prospects of a quick resolution to the U.S.-China trade war dimmed following comments from President Donald Trump, while escalating violence in Hong Kong added to the downbeat sentiment.
However, the blue-chip Dow Jones index reversed course to trade in positive territory, boosted by a 4.5% jump in shares of Boeing Co after the planemaker said it expects its grounded 737 MAX to resume commercial service in January.
Hopes of a “phase one” trade deal and largely upbeat corporate earnings sparked a rally that helped the three major stock indexes close at record highs on Friday.
Trump said on Saturday that the United States would only make a trade deal if it was the “right deal” for America, adding that the talks had moved more slowly than he would have liked.
Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, with the utilities sector the biggest decliner.
Healthcare shares fell 0.5% and weighed the most on the benchmark index, while the communication services sector and consumer discretionary were among the biggest drags.
Continuing violence in Hong Kong also hit sentiment after police shot and wounded a protester in the 24th straight week of pro-democracy unrest in the Chinese-ruled territory.
“The protests in Hong Kong seem to be increasing the worries of a trade deal, but I think it’s just an excuse to take some money off the table,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
“We have been quite strong at those market highs last week, so it’s just a minor pull back, and I don’t think it’s going to be enduring.”
The third-quarter earnings season, which is drawing to a close has been better-than-expected for the most part, with nearly three quarters of the 446 S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far topping profit estimates, according to Refinitiv data.
Attention now shifts to economic data and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony later this week, while a handful of big companies including Walmart Inc, Cisco Systems Inc and Nvidia Corp will also report earnings.
At 12:52 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 4.91 points, or 0.02%, at 27,686.15, the S&P 500 was down 7.42 points, or 0.24%, at 3,085.66. The Nasdaq Composite was down 17.21 points, or 0.20%, at 8,458.10.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc gained 6.4% after Bloomberg reported KKR & Co had formally approached the drugstore giant for what could be the biggest-ever leveraged buyout.
Among other stocks, Qualcomm Inc fell 2.7% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the chipmaker to “equal-weight” from “overweight”.
Shares of Cisco dropped 1% as Piper Jaffray downgraded the network gear maker to “neutral” from “overweight”.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.49-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 16 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 47 new highs and 74 new lows.
The Treasury market was closed on Monday for the Veterans Day holiday. (Reporting by Arjun Panchadar and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Shounak Dasgupta)
