Stocks break four-day losing skid as Apple, Amazon climb
After four days of modest losses, Apple and Amazon led the U.S. stock market to small gains on Thursday. Internet and healthcare companies rose while mining companies fell with metals prices.
Apple and Amazon are the two most valuable U.S. companies, and analysts said each stock should keep climbing. Other market favorites including Facebook and Google parent Alphabet also rose.
Interest rates slipped for a second day, which led to losses for banks, while the stronger dollar weighed on metals prices and on shares of the companies that mine those metals. Smaller companies, which have struggled in September, also fell.
The S&P 500 index rose 8.03 points, or 0.3%, to 2,914. Despite its recent losing streak, the benchmark index is up more than 7% since the end of June. With one day left in the third quarter, the S&P 500 is on track for its best quarter since the end of 2013.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 54.65 points, or 0.2%, to 26,439.93. The Nasdaq composite climbed 51.60 points, or 0.6%, to 8,041.97. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks dipped 1.08 points, or 0.1%, to 1,690.53.
Apple rose after JPMorgan Chase analyst Samik Chatterjee said the stock could climb another 20% by the end of next year. Chatterjee said the company was successfully building up its services businesses such as music and payments, which could bring in 20% of Apple’s annual revenue in the next few years. Chatterjee said the company might make acquisitions in the gaming, automotive or smart speaker businesses. Apple rose 2.1% to $224.95.
Amazon rose 1.9% to $2,012.98 after Stifel analyst Scott Devitt forecast more revenue for its retail, advertising and web services units and raised his price target to $2,525 a share. That would value Amazon at about $1.2 trillion.
Bed Bath & Beyond plunged 21% to $14.86 after the home goods and furnishings company reported earnings that fell far short of what analysts were expecting. The company also lowered its profit forecast for the rest of the year and said it expects lower sales.
Several other companies that reported quarterly results also traded lower. Conagra Brands, the parent of Chef Boyardee and Hebrew National, fell 8.5% to $32.98 after its profit and sales fell short of Wall Street projections. Cruise line operator Carnival gave up 4.8% to $63.74 after it said prices for recent bookings have been lower than they were a year ago.
Tesla took a small loss during the day and then dropped 6.1% in aftermarket trading after the Securities Commission filed a complaint against CEO Elon Musk. The complaint says Musk made false statements about a plan to take the electric car maker private.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.8% to $72.12 per barrel in New York while Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 0.5% to $81.72 per barrel in London.
Bond prices rose again. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.05% from 3.06%.
Gold slid 1% to $1,187.40 an ounce.
The dollar rose to 113.42 yen from 112.85 yen. The euro fell to $1.1658 from $1.1762.
