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

Synovus Financial

17/10/2024 21:00

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      Dow ends at record peak for fourth session in five
    

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      Retail sales rise 0.4% in September
    

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      TSMC gains after forecasting Q4 revenue jump
    

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      Travelers, Blackstone jump after Q3 profit beats
    

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      Elevance Health down after cutting annual profit forecast
    

  
 (Updates to close)
    By David French
       Oct 17 (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average
ended higher on Thursday, its fourth record close in the last
five sessions, as stronger-than-expected monthly retail sales
indicated a robust U.S. consumer and chips stocks were buoyed by
TSMC's upbeat forecast.
        The other main Wall Street benchmarks, the S&P 500 and
the Nasdaq Composite, finished largely unchanged.
  
    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, while
AI-trade favorite and TSMC customer Nvidia  NVDA.O  gained.
    The optimism spread to other chip stocks, sending the
broader Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index  .SOX  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.
    According to preliminary data, the S&P 500  .SPX  lost 0.99
points, or 0.02%, to end at 5,841.48 points, while the Nasdaq
Composite  .IXIC  gained 6.46 points, or 0.04%, to 18,373.54.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  rose 164.01 points, or
0.38%, to 43,241.71.
        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, there was still a question of leadership in
markets, and as investors wrestled with this, and the level of
rotation happening, this has left the market slowly grinding
higher.
  
        "Overall, it's allowing the market to advance, but maybe
in a somewhat more restrained fashion than what otherwise might
be expected," Jamner said.
  
        Highlighting this was the fact the Dow advanced for the
second straight day, but small cap indexes fell. The Russell
2000  .RUT  and the S&P Small Cap 600  .SPCY  were down, having
both closed at their highest in nearly three years on Wednesday.
  
    A majority of S&P 500 sectors were also in negative
territory, including rate-sensitive indexes such as utilities
 .SPLRCU  and real estate  .SPLRCR .
    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 yield on the benchmark 10-year note  US10YT=TWEB 
rose 7.5 basis points to 4.091%.
    In earnings-related moves, Travelers Companies  TRV.N  and
Blackstone Group  BX.N  advanced after both the insurer and the
money manager posted third-quarter profit which beat market
expectations.
    The S&P Banks index  .SPXBK  rose for the fifth straight
session as a slew of larger regional banks posted third-quarter
numbers. M&T Bank  MTB.N  and Synovus Financial  SNV.N  rose,
but Truist Financial  TFC.N  dropped.
    Outside financials, health insurer Elevance Health  ELV.N 
plummeted after slashing its full-year profit forecast.

 (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))