Stan Choe
A surge for Intel following a blowout profit report led the US stock market to more records on Friday, while oil prices kept yo-yoing in the wait for what’s next with the Iran war.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.8 per cent and topped its prior all-time high, which was set on Wednesday. The Dow Jones dipped 79 points, or 0.2 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.6 per cent to its own record thanks to the jump for tech.
The Australian sharemarket is set for a flat open, with futures on Saturday pointing to a fall of 3 points at the open. The Australian dollar was trading at US71.36 at 5.15am AEST.
Intel led the way and roared past its 2000 peak during the dot-com boom to an all-time high. It soared 23.6 per cent for its best day since 1987 after reporting much stronger results for the first three months of the year than analysts expected. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the next wave of artificial-intelligence technology is increasing the need for Intel’s chips and products, and the company’s forecast for profit in the spring topped analysts’ estimates.
Such strong profit reports have helped Wall Street rally to records, and the S&P 500 has leaped nearly 13 per cent in a little under a month. Hopes have also built in financial markets that the United States and Iran can find a way to avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy because of their war.
A ceasefire is tenuously in place between the two, but tensions between them are still keeping oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.
Oil prices climbed this week on worries about the strait, but an encouraging signal came Friday after Iran’s top diplomat said he was heading to Pakistan. That’s where officials have been trying to get the United States and Iran to convene for a second round of ceasefire negotiations.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later said in an interview on Fox News Channel that President Donald Trump is sending his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan to meet with Iran’s foreign minister.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June yo-yoed for much of the day before settling at $US105.33, up 0.2 per cent. The price for a barrel of Brent oil delivered in July, which is where more of the trading is happening in the market, fell 0.2 per cent to $US99.13.
On Wall Street, Procter & Gamble rose 2.5 per cent after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Shailesh Jejurikar said it saw broad-based growth across regions and products, which include Bounty paper towels and Tide detergent.
That helped offset a drop of 25.5 per cent for Charter Communications, whose profit for the latest quarter came in weaker than analysts expected. It lost 120,000 internet customers during the three months, more than some analysts expected.
Hartford Insurance Group fell 3.7 per cent after reporting profit growth for the latest quarter that fell short of analysts’ expectations.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 56.68 points to 7,165.08. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 79.61 to 49,230.71, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 398.09 to 24,836.60.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased as traders upped their bets on the possibility that the Federal Reserve could resume its cuts to interest rates later this year.
The path appeared to clear Friday for Trump’s nominee to chair the Fed, Kevin Warsh, after the US Justice Department ended its probe into the Fed’s current chair, Jerome Powell.
Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, has said he would oppose Warsh until the investigation was resolved, effectively blocking his confirmation. Warsh is the choice of Trump, who has been arguing loudly for lower interest rates, which could help mortgages and other kinds of loans become less expensive.
Shots were fired as accused gunman tried to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington on Sunday, resulting in Trump being hurried off the stage and guests ducking for cover beneath their tables.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury dipped to 4.30 per cent from 4.34 per cent late Thursday.
A report in the morning also said sentiment among US consumers remains sour. A survey by the University of Michigan found weaker sentiment in April across political party, income, age, and education, though it improved a bit after the ceasefire in the war with Iran was announced earlier in the month.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1 per cent, and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.8 per cent for two of the world’s bigger moves.
AP
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