Stock Market Today: Dow Lower Amid Lack of Direction as Earnings Season Continues
2022.04.18 23:36
By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow closed lower Monday, after flirting between gains and losses intraday as investors digested the latest wave of quarterly earnings, including better-than-expected results from Bank of America.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% or 39pts, the S&P 500 was flat, and the Nasdaq fell 0.1%.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) delivered second-quarter results that beat on both the top and bottom lines, led by strong trading growth and a pick-up in lending, sending its shares more than 3%.
Bank of America chief executive Brian Moynihan talked up the prospect for the bank’s lending business, forecasting “significant NII [net interest income] improvement through the next several quarters,” as the Federal Reserve is expected to step-up the pace of rate hikes in the next few months.
The positive remarks helped allay some of the fears about the shape of the consumer after JPMorgan’s quarterly results last week stoked concerns about loan losses.
Banks were also boosted by a surge in Treasury yields as the 10-year Treasury yield inched closer to 3% in anticipation of aggressive fed monetary policy tightening ahead.
Big tech was mostly higher, though gains were kept in check by surging Treasury yields, which tend to make long-duration sectors of the market, including tech, unattractive.
Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), meanwhile, continued to dominate investor attention, rising more than 7%, after the social media company launched a limited duration shareholder rights plan, or “poison pill,” to thwart Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s bid to take the company private.
The limited duration shareholder rights plan would allow other shareholders to buy shares of Twitter at a discount, diluting Musk’s stake if it reaches 15%, which is the threshold for triggering the so-called poison pill, making it expensive for him to acquire the company.
In China tech news, ride-hailing firm Didi Global Inc ADR (NYSE:DIDI) fell more than 18% after reporting a decline in fourth-quarter revenue and announcing that it would hold a shareholder vote to delist its shares on May 23.
Energy was the top performing sector on the day, up more than 1%, as oil prices continued their advance amid fresh supply concerns, already heightened by the prospect of a prolonged Russia-Ukraine war, exacerbated by Libya cutting production.
Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO), Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), Coterra Energy (NYSE:CTRA) were among the top gainers in the energy sector.
Health care was a big drag on the broader market, paced by a decline in vaccine makers, including Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE).
