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BUSINESS Wednesday 16 OctOber 2019
A25

Stocks march higher following solid earnings reports

By ALEX VEIGA are expected to contract
DAMIAN J. TROISE by nearly 5% during the
Technology and health third quarter, according to
care companies powered FactSet.
U.S. stocks solidly higher The dire prediction could
Tuesday afternoon as in- soften as more companies
vestors welcomed surpris- report earnings. Similar fore-
ingly good quarterly results casts were made ahead of
from some of the nation's both the first and second
biggest companies. quarter reporting periods
Solid earnings from United- and companies in the S&P
Health Group, JPMorgan 500 managed to deliver
Chase and other compa- only a modest contraction
nies helped lift the market, each time.
erasing modest losses from HEALTHY FORECASTS: Unit-
a day earlier. Investors edHealth Group rose 7.6%
are looking to the wave after it hiked its 2019 profit
of quarterly report cards forecast. The nation's larg-
due out over the next few est health insurance com-
weeks to give them a clear- pany said the addition of
er picture of what impact hundreds of clinics to its
the trade war between the health care services busi-
U.S. and China is having on ness helped drive revenue
corporate profits and the In this Oct. 8, 2019, file photo trader Mark Puetzer, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock and profit during the third
broader economy. Exchange. quarter, both of which beat
Health insurers were among Associated Press Wall Street forecasts.
the biggest gainers in the Other health insurers were
S&P 500 after UnitedHealth corporate earnings. United and Beijing will be able to definite." trading higher: Anthem
Group raised its annual fi- Airlines Holdings will report work out a trade deal. More importantly, the latest gained 6.7%, Cigna add-
nancial forecast following later in the day and give Washington and Beijing batch of earnings came ed 5.9% and Humana rose
third-quarter results that investors an early glimpse agreed to a truce Friday. with a spate of surprisingly 4.6%.
beat Wall Street's expecta- into the health of the airline The U.S. agreed to suspend good forecasts for the rest Johnson & Johnson, the
tions. industry. a planned hike in tariffs of the year, which is help- world's biggest maker of
Chipmaker Nvidia led tech- Banks continue their earn- on $250 billion of Chinese ing to ease concerns about health care products,
nology sector stocks higher, ings reports on Wednesday goods that had been set a trade war-induced slow- gained 2% after it also
climbing 6.3%. with Bank of America and to kick in Tuesday. Beijing, down. raised its profit forecast for
Solid financial results from PNC Financial. Railroad gi- meanwhile, agreed to buy "That was what everybody the year following solid third
JPMorgan Chase and ant CSX, Netflix and IBM $40 billion to $50 billion in was afraid of," Kinahan quarter results. The compa-
Charles Schwab helped will also report results on U.S. farm products. said. "Instead, we got 'no, ny cited higher sales of key
drive gains in financial Wednesday. The U.S. did not, however, the future looks good.'" medicines for cancer and
stocks. KEEPING SCORE: The S&P cancel plans for more tariffs EARNINGS WORRIES: The immune disorders.
Bond prices fell. The yield 500 index was up 1.1% as in December and the stick- early batch of upbeat fi- BANKS AT BAT: JPMorgan
on the 10-year Treasury of 1:28 p.m. Eastern time. ing points of intellectual nancial reports come amid Chase rose 3.9% after the
rose to 1.77% from 1.75% The Dow Jones Industrial property and trade secrets broader concerns for an- bank beat Wall Street's third
late Friday. Bond markets Average rose 261 points, or still hang over the dispute. other rough round of quar- quarter profit forecasts on
were closed Monday for 1%, to 27,048. The Nasdaq "There really isn't any pen to terly earnings reports as a growth from higher inter-
Columbus Day. gained 1.3%. Small-compa- paper, it's just people talk- wide range of industries est rates and solid perfor-
Utilities, real estate compa- ny stocks were faring better ing and nothing definite," absorb the impact of on- mance from its investment
nies and makers of consum- than the rest of the market said JJ Kinahan, chief mar- going trade disputes and banking business.q
er goods all fell as investors after leading the decline a ket strategist for TD Ameri- growing economic uncer-
regained an appetite for day earlier. The Russell 2000 trade. "The earnings are tainty. Corporate earnings
more risk. The sectors are index was up 1.5%.
considered safe-play hold- ANALYST'S TAKE: Early earn-
ings and usually lag the ings reports are giving in-
market when investors are vestors a strong shot of
more confident. confidence and, for now at
Tuesday marks the begin- least, overriding concerns
ning of a busy few days for about whether Washington