Wall St. shrugs off Macy's, rallies for fifth session

Wall Street extended its rally into a fifth straight day on Thursday in a session of whipsaw trading as investors responded to mixed comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, while a warning from Macy`s pummeled retail stocks.

Powell reiterated the views of other policymakers that the Fed would be patient about interest rate hikes. But major stock indexes temporarily moved into negative territory after Powell said the bank`s balance sheet would be "substantially smaller," and after he raised concerns about the size of U.S. debt.

"That`s what spooked the market a little bit. It`s more of a commentary on the entire economy as a whole," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin.

TRENDING NOW

Auto giant Aston Martin launches DB12 in India; know ex-showroom price and specifications

Amazon Great Indian Festival: Get Apple iPhone 14 for as low as Rs 23,249

Government increases windfall tax on domestic crude to Rs 12,100/t from Rs 10,000/t

Guaranteed Pension System (GPS) vs Old Pension Scheme (OPS): Which pension scheme offers maximum retirement benefits?

Godrej Properties acquires 109-acre land in Nagpur for about Rs 200 crore to expand business

Mutual Fund Investment: 5 best mutual funds to build wealth

Amazon Great Indian Festival dates announced; Prime members to get early access from October 8

Anil Agarwal shakes up biz; to demerge five businesses of Vedanta, restructure zinc unit

India's forex reserves falls for 3rd week in a row

ICC World Cup 2023: When and where to watch India vs England warm-up match tomorrow

IND Vs ENG LIVE Score, ICC World CUP 2023 Warm Up Match Updates: India to take on England in their first warm-up match at Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati

Small savings schemes: Five-year recurring deposit will make more money for you in December quarter; this is the new interest rate

RBI cancels licence of Lucknow Urban Co-operative Bank

Plaza Wires IPO hits Street: Issue price, subscription status, listing date, other key details to know

EPFO extends deadline to upload details by employers for higher pension option by 3-month till Dec 31

The S&P 500 <.spx> is up over 10 percent from a 20-month low it touched around Christmas, lifted by hopes for a U.S.-Chinese trade deal, which eased some worries over the impact of the dispute on global growth. The benchmark index`s five-day winning streak is its longest since September.

Trade-related optimism faded somewhat as China offered little in the way of details on key issues such as forced technology transfers, intellectual property rights, tariff barriers and cyber attacks.

In the United States, reports from Macy`s and American Airlines added to concerns that growth of corporate profits would slow.

Macy`s Inc stock plunged 17.69 percent and pulled down other retailers after the department store operator cut its same-store sales forecast for the full year because of weak demand during mid-December.

S&P 500 companies on average are seen posting 14.5 percent growth in earnings per share as they report December-quarter results over the next few weeks, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. However, expectations for growth in 2019 are at 6.4 percent, down from an expectation of 7.3 percent on Jan 1.

"It could be a good quarter, but maybe with more cautious outlooks until we get something that comes out of the trade negotiations," said Kurt Brunner, a portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia. "There is a lot of uncertainty there."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.dji> climbed 0.51 percent to end at 24,001.92 points, while the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 0.45 percent to 2,596.63.

The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 0.42 percent to 6,986.07.

Trade-sensitive industrial stocks <.splrci> rose 1.44 percent, lifted by Boeing Co , which gained 2.55 percent after the U.S. Air Force accepted its long-delayed KC-46 air tanker.

American Airlines Group Inc fell 4.13 percent after the No. 1 U.S. carrier cut its fourth-quarter profit and unit revenue forecasts. That weighed on other airline shares as well.

Ten out of 11 S&P sector indexes rose, led by a 1.55 percent increase in real estate <.splrcr>, with consumer discretionary <.splrcd> ending down 0.23 percent.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.61-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.19-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 18 new highs and 12 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.3 billion shares, compared with the 8.9 billion-share average over the last 20 trading days.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)