Hi Everyone,
Nearly all of the main sectors finished the day in the green thanks to the bullish afternoon session, even though the financial sector dragged the Dow and the S&P 500 lower. Tech investors shrugged off Apple’s (AAPL, -0.4%) warning regarding the likely impact of the chip shortages, and both the tech and communication services sectors closed with sizable gains. Materials, real estate stocks, utilities, and consumer-related issues performed better than the large-cap benchmarks as well, but industrials, healthcare stocks, and the energy sector only eked out small gains.
Traders said that while this afternoon’s rally was a positive sign for bulls, the short-term picture remains suspicious on the Street. As one trader explained, “Bulls avoided the fourth negative day in a row for stocks, thanks to the positive afternoon trends, but the major indices remain in the red for the week, and the momentum of today’s intraday rally was far from convincing.”
Despite the fact that JP Morgan beat expectations on both its top and bottom lines, cyclical stocks came under pressure in early trading as the worrisome CPI print weighed on investor sentiment. Shares of Delta Airlines (DAL, -5.7%) also took a post-earnings hit, as the company warned that rising fuel prices would eat into its profits in the coming quarter, reinforcing inflation-related woes. A whole host of large-cap financials will report earnings tomorrow, including Wells Fargo (WFC, -1.1%), Bank of America (BAC, -0.7%) Morgan Stanley (MS, +1%), and Citigroup (C, -0.3%), so the sector is expected to remain very active.
“Leadership is the ability to do, not the ability to state.”
Paul Von Ringelheim
As always, have a great evening and stay tuned!!
