Stock Market News For Jul 11, 2018

U.S. stock markets continues their winning streak for the fourth straight session as all three major indexes ended up in positive territory on Tuesday. Investors have pinned high hopes on second-quarter 2018 earnings resulting in evaporation of trade war concerns at least for the time being. A robust U.S. economy also boosted investor’s confidence on equities. Boyed by these positives, the S&P 500 recorded its highest closing in more than five months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) closed at 24,919.66, increasing 0.6% or 143.07 points. The S&P 500 Index (INX) up 0.4% to close at 2,793.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC) closed at 7,759.20, gaining 3 points. A total of 5.8 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 7 billion shares. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1.06-to-1 ratio. On the Nasdaq, decliners had an edge over advancers by 1.53-to-1 ratio.  The CBOE VIX decreased 0.4% to close at 12.64.

How Did the Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow rose 0.6%, reflecting its first four successive days in positive territory since Jun 11. Notably, 25 of the 30-stock blue-chip index closed in the green while 4 traded in the red and 1 remain unchanged.

The S&P 500 advanced 0.4% and recorded its highest close since Feb 1. Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) and Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) gained 1.2% and 1%, respectively. Notably, nine out of 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in positive territory.

Similarly, the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite was up marginally by 3 points due to broad-based market rally.

Earnings Expectations Mounting Up

Market participants are expecting strong showing by American corporates as second-quarter earnings season slowly gathering steam. Total earnings of the S&P 500 index is expected to be up 19% from the same period last year backed by 8.2% year-over-year growth in revenues. A big driver of these positive revisions is obviously the direct impact of the tax cuts. (Read More: What's Keeping Bank Stocks Down?)

Beverage and soft drinks behemoth PepsiCo Inc. PEP reported second-quarter 2018 results, wherein earnings topped estimates while sales lagged. Adjusted earnings per share of $1.61 beat the Zacks consensus mark of $1.51. However, net revenues of $16,090 million increased 2.4% from the year-ago level but lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $16,125 million. (Read More: PepsiCo Stock Up on Q2 Earnings Beat, Revenues Lag)

Following earnings results, the share price of PepsiCo soared 4.8%. Strong earnings of PepsiCo also lifted stock price of other consumer staple major such as The Coca-Cola Co. KO and The Procter & Gamble Co. PG by 1.4% and 2.6%, respectively.

Notably, banking giants JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, Citigroup Inc. C and Wells Fargo & Co. WFC will report second-quarter earnings results this week. On Tuesday, share price of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo declined 0.7%, 0.6% and 0.6%, respectively. Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) also declined 0.3%. All three banking stocks carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

U.S. Economy Remains Robust

Wall Street continues to rally on Tuesday as investor shrugged off trade war fear buoyed by strong economic data. Friday’s job market data reduces concerns that United States is in the late stage of economic expansion.

Stocks That Made Headlines

BD Buys TVA Medical, To Provide Minimally Invasive Procedure

Becton, Dickinson and Co. BDX recently completed the acquisition of Texas-based TVA Medical. Financial terms of the deal have been kept under wraps. (Read More)

QEP Resources to Sell Uinta Assets, Deepen Focus in Permian

QEP Resources, Inc. QEP recently inked a $155-million deal to offload its oil and gas assets in the Uinta Basin, in a bid to sharpen focus on the prolific Permian play. (Read More)

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.

Click here for the 6 trades >>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Citigroup Inc. (C) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Coca-Cola Company (The) (KO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Pepsico, Inc. (PEP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
QEP Resources, Inc. (QEP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Procter & Gamble Company (The) (PG) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research