AIRLINK 76.15 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (2.35%)
BOP 4.86 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.82%)
CNERGY 4.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.69%)
DFML 46.65 Increased By ▲ 1.92 (4.29%)
DGKC 89.25 Increased By ▲ 1.98 (2.27%)
FCCL 23.48 Increased By ▲ 0.58 (2.53%)
FFBL 33.36 Increased By ▲ 1.71 (5.4%)
FFL 9.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.11%)
GGL 10.10 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
HASCOL 6.66 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.62%)
HBL 113.77 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (0.15%)
HUBC 143.90 Increased By ▲ 3.75 (2.68%)
HUMNL 11.85 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.5%)
KEL 4.99 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (2.46%)
KOSM 4.40 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
MLCF 38.50 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.26%)
OGDC 133.70 Increased By ▲ 0.90 (0.68%)
PAEL 25.39 Increased By ▲ 0.94 (3.84%)
PIBTL 6.75 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (3.37%)
PPL 120.01 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (0.31%)
PRL 26.16 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (1.08%)
PTC 13.89 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (1.02%)
SEARL 57.50 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (0.44%)
SNGP 66.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-0.15%)
SSGC 10.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.49%)
TELE 8.10 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.89%)
TPLP 10.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.28%)
TRG 62.80 Increased By ▲ 1.14 (1.85%)
UNITY 26.95 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (1.2%)
WTL 1.34 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.47%)
BR100 7,957 Increased By 122.2 (1.56%)
BR30 25,700 Increased By 369.8 (1.46%)
KSE100 75,878 Increased By 1000.4 (1.34%)
KSE30 24,343 Increased By 355.2 (1.48%)
Markets Print 2019-10-30

Tuesday's early afternoon trade: S&P hits record high on robust Merck, Pfizer earnings

The S&P 500 touched a record high on Tuesday as investors cheered strong earnings from big drugmakers Merck and Pfizer, while a disappointing profit from Google parent Alphabet kept the Nasdaq firmly in the red. Hopes of a US-China trade deal and expectat
Published October 30, 2019

The S&P 500 touched a record high on Tuesday as investors cheered strong earnings from big drugmakers Merck and Pfizer, while a disappointing profit from Google parent Alphabet kept the Nasdaq firmly in the red. Hopes of a US-China trade deal and expectations of another rate cut by the Federal Reserve when it concludes its two-day meeting on Wednesday have kept markets inching higher this week.

Merck & Co Inc and Pfizer Inc both gained about 3% after reporting upbeat third-quarter results. The healthcare sector, which has been the second-worst performer among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors this year, rose 1.36%. "The healthcare stocks are up after earnings and that's a good sign," said Shawn Cruz, manager of trader strategy at TD Ameritrade in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Shares of Alphabet Inc, however, slipped 2.1% as its quarterly profit missed estimates due to higher costs. Third-quarter earnings of S&P 500 companies have largely been better than expected, easing some of the concerns over growth which have dogged markets this year, with over 77% of the 236 firms to report so far surpassing profit expectations, according to Refinitiv data.

All eyes are now on the Fed meeting, where the central bank is widely expected to deliver a quarter percentage point interest rate cut for the third time this year. At 12:39 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 30.49 points, or 0.11%, at 27,121.21 and the S&P 500 was up 5.23 points, or 0.17%, at 3,044.65. The Nasdaq Composite was down 23.24 points, or 0.28%, at 8,302.75.

General Motors Co gained 5% after its quarterly net profit topped estimates but the carmaker slashed its earnings forecast for 2019 as the 40-day US labor strike by the United Auto Workers union brought virtually all of its North American operations to a standstill.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.