teel Market > International Macro > Text The earnings report entered the peak period. US stocks closed mixed on Monday.

Release time：Apr 23, 2019 From：admin

Sina Wall Street News Beijing time 23 am, US stocks ended mixed on Monday. This week, the US stock market report will enter a peak period, and 150 S&P components will be announced. The United States announced the abolition of Iranian crude oil import exemption, which caused crude oil prices to climb and the energy sector to generally rise.

At 16:00 on April 22nd (04:00 on April 23rd, Beijing time), the Dow fell 48.49 points, or 0.18%, to 26511.05 points; the S&P 500 index rose 2.94 points, or 0.10%, to 2907.97. Point; the Nasdaq rose 17.21 points, or 0.22%, to 8015.27 points.

US stocks closed on Friday for Good Friday. Monday is Easter, US stocks resume normal trading, and European stock markets continue to be closed.

Driven by rising oil prices, the energy sector generally climbed. The Dow component Exxon Mobil (82.9, 1.77, 2.18%) (XOM) closed 2.2% higher and Chevron (121.9, 2.04, 1.70%) (CVX) rose 1.7%.

The financial report is still the focus of the market. This week, 150 S&P 500 companies will report earnings. Halliburton (HAL) and Kimberly Clarke (KMB) released their results before the market on Monday, both of which exceeded market expectations.

Among the companies that will report earnings this week, the top companies include Coca-Cola (47.4, -0.08, -0.17%) (KO), Twitter (34.39, -0.01, -0.03%) (TWTR), Facebook (181.44, 3.16, 1.77%) (FB), Amazon (1887.69, 26.00, 1.40%) (AMZN), Microsoft (123.76, 0.39, 0.32%) (MSFT), Starbucks (75.39, -0.67, -0.88%) (SBUX) and Ford Motor Company (9.5, -0.05, -0.52%) (F), etc.

To date, 15% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings, and 78% of these companies have announced results that are higher than expected, above the five-year average. However, before entering the fiscal quarter, analysts generally cut their earnings forecasts, with an average reduction of 4.2%.

Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at SlateStone Wealth, said: "The first quarter earnings were slightly better than expected, thus dispelling some of the concerns in the market. But it is not enough to allow some cautious investors to join the stock market."

He said: "I think this is one of the reasons why the stock market has been in a narrow range of shocks."

In economic data, the Chicago National Economic Activity Index fell 0.15% in March, and the market is expected to be 2.55.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said that in March, second-hand houses were sold at an annual rate of 5.21 million units, estimated at 5.3 million units. The estimated range of 56 economists is 5.15 million to 5.5 million sets.

Crude oil futures prices climbed, and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures prices rose to a new high of about six months.

According to media reports, the White House said on the 22nd that the United States will no longer grant sanctions to countries or regions that are currently importing Iranian oil to increase economic pressure on Iran. According to media reports, the move is one of the measures to try to "reduce Iranian oil exports to zero" after the US government withdraws from the Iranian nuclear agreement.

The eight importing countries and regions that are currently enjoying temporary sanctions exemptions are China, India, Greece, Italy, Japan, Turkey, South Korea and Taiwan.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Pompeo said that the United States will not extend the exemption clause allowing countries to purchase Iranian crude oil from May 2. The Washington Post said the move would put pressure on Iran to further curb Iran’s oil exports to curb its main source of income.

On May 8, 2018, the United States unilaterally announced its withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear agreement, restarted comprehensive sanctions against Iran, and demanded that all relevant countries stop importing Iranian crude oil on November 4, 2018. But then, the United States announced an exemption plan that includes the eight countries and regions mentioned above. This is considered to give these countries and regions more time to find alternatives, and to prevent the Iranian crude oil supply from cutting off the impact on the global market.

The Iranian side strongly condemned the US sanctions decision.

Market analyst review

Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM, said: “The current P/E ratio of the S&P 500 companies remains at 16.8, close to the highest level in history, and the index is only 1.2% below its historical record. Investors need more convincing The financial report will continue to buy stocks when the stock market is at the current high level."

Sayed said: "The Fed is restricted in tightening monetary policy, and unless there is a serious sign of a drop in inflationary pressures - there is no such sign yet, the Fed will not relax monetary policy. In view of this, if this week's earnings report Disappointing, US stocks may have a sharp correction."