US Indexes Close Higher With Impeachment Acquittal
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 29,290.85 on Wednesday with a gain of 483.22 points or 1.68%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,334.69 for a gain of 37.10 points or 1.13%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 9,508.68 for a gain of 40.71 points or 0.43%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 15.15 for a loss of 0.90 points or -5.61%.
Wednesday's market movers
U.S. indexes closed higher on Wednesday for the third day. President Trump gave a strong state of the union address Tuesday night. The Senate also announced an acquittal in the President's impeachment trial.
On the earnings calendar:
Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU): Earnings per share beat estimate by 42 cents. Stock gained 26%.
Merck (NYSE:MRK): Revenue of $11.87 billion increased 7.9% year over year and missed estimates by $60 million. Fourth-quarter GAAP earnings of 92 cents missed estimates by 2 cents and non-GAAP earnings of $1.16 per share beat estimates by 1 cent.
Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN): Revenue of $418.3 million decreased 0.4% year over year and beat estimates by $12 million. First-quarter GAAP earnings of 19 cents per share beat estimates by 30 cents and non-GAAP earnings of 27 cents per share beat estimates by 3 cents.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM): earnings beat estimates by 14 cents. Stock gained 16.5%.
MetLife (NYSE:MET): Revenue of $17.14 billion increased 9.5% year over year and beat estimates by $320 million. Fourth-quarter GAAP earnings of 58 cents per share missed estimates by 72 cents and non-GAAP earnings of $1.53 beat estimates by 15 cents.
General Motors (NYSE:GM): Revenue of $30.83 billion decreased 19.7% year over year and missed estimates by $930 million. A fourth-quarter GAAP earnings loss of 16 cents missed estimates by 15 cents and non-GAAP earnings of 5 cents beat estimates by 4 cents.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
The MBA Mortgage Applications Index increased 5% following an increase of 7.2%. The MBA's average 30-year mortgage rate decreased to 3.71% from 3.81%.
The ADP private sector January employment report showed new payrolls of 291,000 following an increase of 199,000 and beating the estimate of 142,000.
The International Trade in Goods and Services report showed a deficit of $48.9 billion in December. Exports were $209.6 billion and imports were $258.5 billion.
The Markit Composite PMI increased to 53.3 in January from 52.7.
The Markit Services PMI increased to 53.4 from 52.8.
The ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI increased to 55.5 in January from 54.9. Separately, the ISM Non-Manufacturing Business Activity Index increased to 60.9 from 57, the ISM Non-Manufacturing Prices Index decreased to 55.5 from 59.3, the ISM Non-Manufacturing Employment Index decreased to 53.1 from 54.8 and the ISM Non-Manufacturing New Orders Index increased to 56.2 from 55.3.
The EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status report showed an increase of 3.355 million barrels in oil inventory.
In the S&P 500, energy and financials led gains. In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led gains:
UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) 5.30%
IBM (NYSE:IBM) 4.84%
Exxon (NYSE:XOM) 4.60%
Boeing (NYSE:BA) 3.65%
Dow Inc. (NYSE:DOW) 3.25%
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,681.92 for a gain of 25.15 points or 1.52%. The S&P 600 closed at 1,020.20 for a gain of 19.08 points or 1.91%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 10,858.38 for a gain of 122.47 points or 1.14%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 9,803.08 for a gain of 192.34 points or 2.00%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,080.32 for a gain of 24.62 points or 1.20%; the S&P 100 at 1,496.14 for a gain of 16.35 points or 1.10%; the Nasdaq 100 at 9,367.48 for a gain of 33.43 points or 0.36%; the Russell 3000 at 1,952.67 for a gain of 19.59 points or 1.01%; the Russell 1000 at 1,844.17 for a gain of 17.88 points or 0.98%; the Wilshire 5000 at 34,074.05 for a gain of 338.57 points or 1.00%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 759.20 for a gain of 10.11 points or 1.35%.
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This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
