US STOCKS-Dow closes at another record high as chip stocks, retail data support

Synovus Financial

17/10/2024 22:03

* 
      Dow ends at record peak for fourth session in five
    

        * 
      TSMC gains after forecasting Q4 revenue jump
    

        * 
      Travelers, Blackstone at record closes after Q3 profit
beats
    

        * 
      Elevance Health biggest dip in 4.5 years on profit
forecast cut
    

        * 
      Indexes: Dow up 0.37%, S&P 500 down 0.02%, Nasdaq up 0.04%
    

  
 (Adds closing prices)
    By David French
       Oct 17 (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average
advanced on Thursday to its fourth record close in the last five
sessions, as stronger-than-expected monthly retail sales
indicated a robust U.S. consumer and TSMC's upbeat forecast
buoyed chipmakers' stocks.
    The other main Wall Street benchmarks were largely
unchanged, as the S&P 500 dipped to a fractional loss and the
Nasdaq Composite eked out a tiny win.
    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co  2330.TW , the world's
largest contract chipmaker, beat market estimates for profit and
forecast a jump in fourth-quarter revenue, driven by demand for
artificial intelligence chips.
    The chipmaker's U.S.-listed shares  TSM.N  soared 9.8%,
while artificial intelligence-trade favorite and TSMC customer
Nvidia  NVDA.O  gained 0.9%.
    The optimism spread to other chip stocks, sending the
broader Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index  .SOX  1% higher.
    Fresh U.S. data confirmed healthy growth in the world's
largest economy, while keeping bets on a 25-basis-point rate cut
at the Federal Reserve's next meeting largely intact at 89.4%,
according to CME's FedWatch.
    U.S. retail sales increased 0.4% in September, slightly more
than expected, while weekly jobless claims fell unexpectedly.
    A broadly upbeat start to the third-quarter earnings season,
strong economic data and the Fed kicking off its policy-easing
cycle have pushed the Dow and the S&P 500 to record highs in
recent sessions, with the latter close to the psychologically
important 6,000 mark.
    The S&P 500  .SPX  lost 1.00 points, or 0.02%, at 5,841.47
points, while the Nasdaq Composite  .IXIC  climbed 6.53 points,
or 0.04%, to 18,373.61. The Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI 
rose 161.35 points, or 0.37%, to 43,239.05.
    Josh Jamner, investment strategy analyst at ClearBridge
Investments, said investors have been revising economic and
earnings growth expectations as robust data eased worries about
a recession.
    However, investors were trying to figure out which companies
and sectors will lead the market higher, and when to rotate into
them, after months of megacap stocks driving market rallies.
    "Overall, it's allowing the market to advance, but maybe in
a somewhat more restrained fashion than what otherwise might be
expected," Jamner said.
    While the Dow advanced for the second straight day, small
cap indexes fell. The Russell 2000  .RUT  dipped 0.3% and the
S&P Small Cap 600  .SPCY  slipped 0.2%, a day after closing at
their highest in nearly three years.
    A majority of S&P 500 sectors were also weaker, including
rate-sensitive indexes such as utilities  .SPLRCU  and real
estate  .SPLRCR , which slipped 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively.
    One other quirk is that U.S. equity benchmarks have advanced
in recent days even as U.S. Treasury yields have crept up. On
Thursday, the benchmark 10-year note yield  US10YT=TWEB  rose
7.5 basis points to 4.091%.
    In earnings-related moves, Travelers Companies  TRV.N  and
Blackstone Group  BX.N  advanced 9% and 6.3%, respectively, to
record closing highs after both the insurer and the money
manager posted third-quarter profit which beat market
expectations.
    The S&P Banks index  .SPXBK  edged up 0.1%, advancing for a
fifth straight session, matching its mid-August run and just one
off its six successive wins in April, as a slew of larger
regional banks posted third-quarter numbers. M&T Bank  MTB.N 
and Synovus Financial  SNV.N  rose more than 5%, but Truist
Financial  TFC.N  dropped 3.5% and Huntington Bancshares
 HBAN.O  slipped 2.6%.
    Outside financials, health insurer Elevance Health  ELV.N 
plummeted 10.6%, its biggest one-day drop since the start of the
pandemic in March 2020, after slashing its full-year profit
forecast.
    Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.34 billion shares, compared
with the 12.08 billion average for the full session over the
last 20 trading days.

 (Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru and
David French in New York; Editing by Pooja Desai and Richard
Chang)
 ((LisaPauline.Mattackal@thomsonreuters.com))