Stock Market News for February 04, 2015 – February 4, 2015 – Zacks …
Benchmarks ended in the green for the second-straight session on Tuesday, banking on gains among energy shares. A rally in oil prices helped energy shares settle in the green. Meanwhile, upbeat monthly U.S. auto sales report along with possibility of a new deal between Office Depot and Staples boosted investor sentiment. Encouraging news emanating from Greece also added to the bullish sentiment.
For a look at the issues currently facing the markets, make sure to read today’s Ahead of Wall Street article
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 1.8%, or 305.36 points, to close at 17,666.40. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500) gained 1.4% to close at 2,050.03. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 4,727.74; rising 1.1%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) plunged 10.8% to settle at 17.33. A total of about 8.4 billion shares were traded on Monday, above last five sessions’ average of 7.7 billion. Advancers outpaced declining stocks on the NYSE. For 78% stocks that advanced, 20% declined.
Benchmarks climbed more than 1% on Tuesday after a rally in oil prices boosted energy shares. The prices of WTI crude oil increased 6.7% to $53.05 per barrel, its highest settlement price since Dec 31, 2014. Additionally, Brent crude oil increased 5.5% to settle at $57.91 a barrel. Oil prices moved north due on Tuesday following BP p.l.c.’s (BP – Analyst Report) announcement of a cut in its capital expenditure by 13% to $20 billion. Additionally, a U.S. refinery strike increased prices for petroleum products on concerns of a possible shut down of fuel production. Oil prices gained for the fourth-straight session on Tuesday, its longest winning streak since Aug 2014. Prices have jumped about 19% over the last four trading sessions.
The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) gained 2.7%. The sector gained the most among the S&P 500 sectors. Dow components Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM – Analyst Report) and Chevron Corporation (CVX – Analyst Report) advanced 2.9% and 3.3%, respectively. Other key stocks from the sector including Schlumberger Limited (SLB – Analyst Report), ConocoPhillips (COP – Analyst Report) and EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG – Analyst Report) increased 2.9%, 3% and 4.1%, respectively. All 10 sectors of the S&P 500 ended in the green.
Markets also ended higher on Tuesday boosted by positive U.S. car sales data. Domestic-made vehicle sales climbed to an annualized rate of 13.5 million in January but less than the consensus expectation of an increase to 13.6 million. Demand for trucks and sport-utility vehicles surged in January, banking on drop in gasoline price and easy credit facilities.
General Motors Company (GM – Analyst Report), Ford Motor Co. (F – Analyst Report) and FCA US LLC formerly known as Chrysler Group LLC reported rise in their sales data. General Motors, Ford and FCA US LLC reported a rise in U.S. vehicle sales in January by 18%, 15% and 14%, respectively, when compared to same period last year. Shares of General Motors, Ford and FCA US LLC went up 2.6%, 2.5% and 3.3%, respectively. Japanese car maker, Toyota Motor Corporation (TM – Analyst Report) also said that its January sales in the U.S. increased 16% year over year. Shares of Toyota Motor gained a meager 0.01%.
Separately, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, new orders for manufactured goods decreased 3.4% in December. This was more than the consensus estimate of a fall by 2.1%. This reading follows a decrease of 1.7% in November. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 2.3% in December. Separately, unfilled orders, shipments and inventories data were down 0.8%, 1.1% and 0.3%, respectively.
Meanwhile, possibility of a new deal between Office Depot, Inc. (ODP – Analyst Report) and Staples, Inc. (SPLS – Analyst Report) was welcomed by investors. Office Depot is in talks to merge with Staples. Both the companies taken together have about 4,000 stores and yearly sales of more than $35 billion. Shares of Office Depot and Staples soared 21.6% and 10.9%, respectively.
Investors also kept an eye on positive developments in Greece. Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis proposed to settle the deadlock between its international creditors by swapping the country’s debt obligations for new growth-linked bonds. Yanis Varoufakis meet with European leaders to reverse the stringent conditions of Greece’s $272 billion bailout. He said: “What is needed is a bridge agreement that gives us some time—for example a month or six weeks starting from late February—to find an agreement that we would then put in place starting from June 1.” Last Friday, Yanis Varoufakis had rejected the country’s extended bailout program and refused to co-operate with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
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Stock Market News for February 04, 2015 – February 4, 2015 – Zacks …
