Wall St ends mixed as investors digest heavy earnings slate

US stocks were mixed on Thursday after earnings reports set a test for the lofty valuations on Wall Street — where the S&P 500 was shy of a fresh record while the Nasdaq Composite hit a fresh high — and on global markets.

The S&P 500 struggled for direction for most of the session and ended 0.04 per cent lower at 2,926.17, having closed at a record on Tuesday. Communication services and healthcare led the way with a roughly 1.1 per cent increase each, that was partially offset by a 2 per cent slide in industrials and a 1.3 per cent drop in materials.

3M fell 13 per cent after it said its first quarter performance was disappointing. The decline dragged down the share-price weighted Dow, which was off by about 0.4 per cent.

Facebook’s shares rose over 6 per cent after it reported earnings that exceeded forecasts after the market close on Wednesday. Amazon is due to report its first-quarter numbers after the bell this evening.

Meanwhile, a rally in tech stocks helped the Nasdaq Composite climb to a fresh intraday high of 8,151.85 but trimmed those gains by the market close and ended 0.2 per cent higher, shy of a record close.

Elsewhere in the Americas, Argentine assets were hit hard amid mounting political concerns about the future of President Mauricio Macri’s government as it struggles to grapple with sky-high inflation and slowing growth.

European bourses slipped after a mixed run in Asia, while the dollar and Brent crude rallied.

London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.5 per cent, while Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax 30 ticked down 0.25 per cent after it ended the previous session at a six-month high. The region-wide Stoxx 600 lost 0.2 per cent. Shares in Swiss bank UBS gained over 1 per cent after its first quarter numbers. French carmaker PSA fell 3 per cent after reporting a 16 per cent drop off in vehicle sales, while UK bank Barclays traded down over 3 per cent.

The dollar set a fresh a two-year peak, with the index tracking up 0.1 per cent at 98.322.

Brent crude broke above the $75 per barrel mark for the first time since late October. It rose by as much as 1.1 per cent for the session to $75.42 a barrel. The international oil benchmark’s series of peaks this week have tracked the US decision to end waivers on sanctions on Iranian oil imports. 

Emerging market stocks and currencies faded as investors moved back into Wall Street and European equities. China’s CSI 300 fell 2.2 per cent, while MSCI’s broad EM currency index fell 0.3 per cent. That left it on course for its biggest weekly decline since August.

Snapshot

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Markets Briefing is a concise look at global markets, updated throughout the trading day by Financial Times journalists in Hong Kong, New York and London. Feedback? Write in the comments below or send us an email.