An eighth day of rises for the Dow Jones index.. for the first time since 2019
US companies continued to announce their positive business results for the second quarter of the year, leading the main stock indices to rise, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average recording its best consecutive series of rises since September 2019.
By the end of trading on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up for the eighth consecutive day, adding 109 points, representing 0.31% of its value. The S&P 500 also rose 0.24%, while the NASDAQ ended the day near where it started, albeit in the green.
Positive results still dominate the data issued by companies, and most of them in the previous period were from financial institutions, known to top profitability lists at times of high interest rates. According to figures from the “Fact Set” company that specializes in data analysis, about 78% of companies that have announced their business results so far have exceeded analysts’ expectations in terms of profitability.
The positive corporate business results increased the chances of the US economy achieving the desired safe landing, as the inflation rate declines, approaching its target level of 2%, without causing a recession in corporate sales or profits.
In Europe, European stocks ended Wednesday’s trading higher, supported by gains in British stocks, after inflation slowed in the United Kingdom at a pace that exceeded expectations, which raised hopes that the cycle of raising interest rates in Britain, and perhaps in Europe as well, is close to its peak.
The Stoxx 600 index of European stocks increased by 0.3% at the close, after it also ended Tuesday’s trading on the rise.
The FTSE 100 index in London rose 1.8%, coinciding with the decline in the pound sterling after the release of inflation data, which also led to a rise in the broader real estate index, 4.3%.
Reuters said that the real estate sector led the gains and rose to its highest level in more than two months.
The European mining sector fell 1.1%, due to a 1.4% drop in Antofagasta stock, after the Chilean miner cut its full-year copper production forecast.
In terms of energy, oil prices fell at closing today, Wednesday, amid a wave of profit-taking, after previous gains caused mainly by the pledge of China, the largest importer of crude in the world, to support its economic growth.
China’s National Development and Reform Planning Commission said on Tuesday it would draw up policies to “restore and expand” consumption in the world’s second-largest economy, which sent crude prices surging on Tuesday and into the early hours of Wednesday.
Brent crude futures fell 17 cents to $79.46 a barrel, and US West Texas crude futures fell 40 cents to $75.35 a barrel, upon settlement.
Oil pared gains late in the session after both benchmarks rose by more than $1 a barrel. Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group, said market participants took advantage of the price hike and reaped profits.
In a related matter, the data of the Energy Information Administration today, Wednesday, showed a decline in US crude oil inventories by about 708 thousand barrels last week, to 457.4 million barrels, which limited the losses, compared to the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters, that they would decrease by 2.4 million barrels.
The data showed that the US strategic oil reserves increased for the first time since January 2021, with the United States trying to refill the reserves after declining at a record rate last year.
2023-07-19 21:35:10
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