THE S&P 500 JUST CLOSED AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH 🚀
Bloomberg by Rita Nazareth and Claire Ballentine
Stocks Hit Record as Blowout Profits Hearten Bulls: Markets Wrap
• Another raft of blockbuster corporate profits pushed stocks to a record at the end of a week that started with concern about a peak in earnings and a coronavirus resurgence.
• About 87% of the S&P 500 companies reporting results so far this season have beaten Wall Street estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Twitter Inc. and Snap Inc. led a rally in social-media firms as sales blew past forecasts, while American Express Co. jumped after adding a record number of new customers to its tony Platinum card in the second quarter.
• After this week's gains in equities, the S&P 500 is now up 97% from the depths of the pandemic. Though the rapid spread of the delta variant has sown volatility, several investors are betting that a robust economic recovery will fuel corporate America -- even with threat of higher inflation. For Evercore ISI's Chairman Ed Hyman, retailers have more power than ever to pass on higher prices to consumers, and that will spur earnings growth in the quarters ahead.
• "Earnings are reflecting an incredible snapback in economic activity," said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co. "Concerns that stocks are overvalued are less potent here in terms of a threat to the market simply because earnings are rising at fast clip."
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 rose 1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1%
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%
The MSCI World index rose 0.6%
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
The euro was little changed at $1.1772
The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.3750
The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 110.55 per dollar
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.28%
Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.42%
Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 0.58%
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to $72.03 a barrel
Gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,805.60 an ounce