Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Friday 17 November 2017
A25

US homebuilder Strong quarterly earnings drive US stocks higher

sentiment rises
over November “The desire to buy in dips rose $7.29 to $53.11.
has been very, very strong Cisco Systems also deliv-
and we’ve seen a little bit ered a bigger profit than
By ALEX VEIGA of a dip.” analysts expected. The in-
AP Business Writer The Standard & Poor’s 500 ternet gear maker also said
U.S. homebuilders are feel- index rose 21.02 points, or revenue should grow in the
ing more optimistic this 0.8 percent, to 2,585.64. current quarter after two
month, reflecting a recent The Dow Jones industrial years of declines.
rebound in sales of newly average gained 187.08 Cisco shares climbed 5.2
built homes. points, or 0.8 percent, to percent, its biggest gain
The National Association of 23,458.36. The Nasdaq since February 2016. The
Home Builders/Wells Fargo added 87.08 points, or 1.3 stock added $1.77 to
builder sentiment index re- percent, to 6,793.29. The $35.88.
leased Thursday rose two Russell 2000 index of small- Wal-Mart also got a big
points to 70 this month. er-company stocks picked boost, climbing 10.9 per-
That’s the highest reading up 22.79 points, or 1.6 per- cent, its biggest gain since
since March. Trader Dennis Maguire works on the floor of the New York Stock cent, to 1,486.88. October 2008. In addition
Readings above 50 indi- Exchange. U.S. stocks closed sharply higher Thursday, snapping The major stock indexes to posting strong third-
cate more builders see a two-day losing streak. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) were poised to rebound quarter results, the retail gi-
sales conditions as good from the start of trading ant raised its annual profit
rather than poor. The index By ALEX VEIGA gains. Energy and utilities Thursday following solid outlook. The stock rose
has remained above 60 AP Business Writer stocks lagged. Oil prices gains in markets in Eu- $9.79 to $99.62.
since September of 2016. U.S. stocks closed sharply declined. rope and Asia. Investors A forecast for better full-
According to the latest sur- higher Thursday, snapping The rally knocked the major shrugged off the prior day’s year sales helped lift J.M.
vey by FactSet, the index a two-day losing streak. stock indexes into positive doldrums and welcomed Smucker 9.5 percent.
exceeded expectations Investors cheered strong territory for the month, as latest batch of strong cor- The food company’s shares
for a reading of 68 among quarterly earnings from investors seized on the en- porate earnings or out- gained $10.14 to $116.65.
industry analysts. Wal-Mart Stores, Cisco Sys- couraging company earn- looks. “We’ve had very good
Readings gauging build- tems and other compa- ings news to buy shares a Data storage company earnings from Amazon,
ers’ view of single-family nies. Technology stocks day after the market suf- NetApp vaulted 15.9 per- Google, Nvidia, Tencent,
home sales rose from Oc- accounted for much of fered its worst decline in cent as investors applaud- just to name a few,” said
tober, while an outlook the market’s gains, which two months. ed its quarterly results and Tom Martin, senior portfo-
for sales over the next six helped lift the Nasdaq “Investors have been look- forecasts. lio manager with Globalt
months declined. A mea- composite to its first record ing to buy on weakness The stock was the biggest Investments. “Even with
sure of traffic by prospec- high in just over a week. and they got a little bit of gainer in the S&P 500 and Wal-Mart you’re seeing a
tive buyers also rose. Health care companies it,” said Erik Davidson, chief one of the reasons technol- very strong reaction to the
A supply crunch of existing and consumer product investment officer for Wells ogy stocks posted some of positives that are going on
homes has frustrated many makers also posted solid Fargo Private Bank.
would-be buyers and hob- the biggest gains. Its shares there.”q
bled the housing market
this year. At the same time, Walmart sees strong online sales lift Q3 results
it’s helping to drive more
demand for newly built By A. D’INNOCENZIO National Retail Federation Charlie O’Shea said in a Amazon has been building
homes. Sales of new U.S. AP Retail Writer trade group expects holi- note. its network of services too,
homes jumped in Septem- NEW YORK (AP) — A surg- day sales to at least match E-commerce sales grew 50 using its $99-a-year Prime
ber to a seasonally adjust- ing online business and the 3.6 percent growth of a percent, though Walmart membership with same-
ed annual rate of 667,000, strong food sales boosted year ago. Analysts at Bain has a long way to get even day and even one-hour
the highest level since Oc- Walmart’s results Thursday & Co. expect Amazon to close to Amazon’s domi- shipping options to devel-
tober 2007. Data on last ahead of the holiday sea- capture about half of the nance online. Walmart op loyalty. And Amazon’s
month’s new-home sales son, a day after its rival total growth this holiday said in October that U.S. purchase of Whole Foods
are due out next week. Target offered a cautious season, pushing retailers to e-commerce sales should Market this past summer
A solid job market, low forecast that overshad- spend heavily at its stores be about $11.5 billion this has raised the competitive
unemployment rate and owed progress it has made and online. year and it expects global stakes in the food business.
growing economy have in bringing more customers But Walmart’s huge invest- e-commerce to be $17.5 Walmart says its food busi-
helped drive demand for to its stores. ments in its online business billion. That’s still less than ness, critical to drawing
homeownership. But build- And Best Buy, the nation’s and its fleet have helped 4 percent of overall sales. shoppers into its stores,
ers are struggling to keep largest consumer electron- to put distance between That compares with Ama- had the strongest quarterly
up with demand, saying ics chain, reported a boost itself and other traditional zon’s $94.66 billion in the performance in nearly six
they are having difficulty in third-quarter profit and retailers. Since buying Jet. last calendar year. years.q
finding the workers they sales, but its results and out- com for more than $3 bil-
need to start new projects. look fell short of Wall Street lion last year, Walmart has
Construction of new homes expectations. The chain added online services, ac-
fell 4.7 percent in Septem- cited severe hurricanes in quired brands like Bonobos
ber, the biggest decline the U.S. South and a later and ModCloth and vastly
in six months, reflecting unveiling of the new iPhone expanded the number of
weakness in both single- X. items on its site.
family activity and apart- Still, the big-box stores fared “Walmart’s online per-
ment buildings.Home- well overall, at least tem- formance continues to
builders are increasingly porarily allaying fears that validate its substantial
focused on higher-priced Amazon is a death knell investments in this criti-
housing, potentially freez- for this sector. With con- cal channel, including its
ing out potential buyers of sumer spending solid and purchase of Jet.com,”
more modest incomes. q unemployment low, the Moody’s lead retail analyst