Stocks Push Forward As Fears of War Diminish

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stocks - Stocks Push Forward As Fears of War Diminish

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U.S. stock futures are up today with the S&P 500 up 0.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.78% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.54%. This comes as stocks shrugged off the U.S.-led airstrike on Syria over the weekend.

Meanwhile, crude oil actually turned lower yesterday as it turns out the airstrikes weren’t the catalyst for World War III after all. The black stuff had gained more than 8% last week on fears geopolitical turmoil would result in a production slowdown. Instead, prices fell 1.6%.

Stocks Push Forward As Fears of War Diminish, BAC

No sector finished in the red, yesterday, with utilities leading the way. Financials were the laggards amid lingering disappointment with big bank earnings. Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) fell 0.7% despite reporting better-than-expected results. Evidence that rising interest rates are biting into things like mortgage loans and credit card defaults is the cause for the apprehension.

MRKMerck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) gained 2.6%, breaking up and out of a long trading range going back to October and pushing above its 200-day moving average, after reporting better-than-expected clinical trial results for its Keytruda immunotherapy.

BMYBristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) dropped 7.8% despite also reporting better-than-expected clinical results. But the results weren’t quite as good as MRK’s.

Today, the market will get an update on U.S. industrial production as well as a batch of Federal Reserve policymaker speeches, including San Francisco Fed president John Williams and Chicago Fed president Charles Evans.

Check out Serge Berger’s Trade of the Day for April 17.

Today’s Trading Landscape

To see a list of the companies reporting earnings today, click here.

For a list of this week’s economic reports due out, click here.

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Anthony Mirhaydari is the founder of the Edge (ETFs) and Edge Pro (Options) investment advisory newsletters. Free two- and four-week trial offers have been extended to InvestorPlace readers.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/04/stocks-push-forward-as-fears-of-war-diminish/.

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