Stocks Finish Mixed as the Dow Inches Toward 18,000

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U.S. equities mostly climbed again on Thursday as the bulls make another charge at the 18,000 level not crossed since last summer — potentially setting the stage for a surge to new record highs and ending a long sideways crawl that started in late 2014.

It was a fairly quiet session with investors focused on better-than-expected bank earnings (still, earnings and revenue are on the decline) as headwinds including lower long-term interest rates, energy sector issues and a stalling of M&A activity didn’t have as large as a drag on Wall Street as widely expected.

In the end, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1%, the S&P 500 wafted up a fraction, the Nasdaq Composite lost a fraction and the Russell 2000 ended the day with a loss of 0.1%.

Treasury bonds were weaker, the dollar was mixed, gold lost 1.8% to extend recent weakness, and oil lost 0.6% to close at $41.50 a barrel, its second straight loss. Breadth was negative, with 330 net declining issues on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Energy stocks led the way with a 0.4% gain. Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) gained 2.5% after reporting in-line earnings per share on light revenues. Trading revenue dropped 16% from last year. Beleaguered green energy play SunEdison Inc (NYSE:SUNE) surged 58.1% after an audit found no material misstatements in prior financial statements.

Consumer staples were the laggards, down 0.5%, followed by materials, down 0.1%. Pier 1 Imports Inc (NYSE:PIR) lost 5.9% after issuing fiscal 2016 guidance below Street estimates. Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), a big lender to the energy sector, lost 0.5% despite reporting a year-over-year revenue gain as its bad energy loan book is on pace to exceed 50% this year, up from 38% last quarter.

On the economic front, initial weekly jobless claims matched multi-decade lows while consume price inflation softened slightly with the core (ex-food and energy) annual rate dropping to 2.2% from 2.3%.

But big catalysts loom, from this weekend’s OPEC-Russia oil production freeze meeting to the expansion of the Q1 reporting season (expected to be the weakest since 2009) and an upcoming Federal Reserve policy meeting that is likely to tease another rate hike in June as stocks contend with massive overhead resistance.

Anthony Mirhaydari is founder of the Edge and Edge Pro investment advisory newsletters. A two-week and four-week free trial offer has been extended to InvestorPlace readers.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/04/dow-jones-stocks-nasdaq/.

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