Stocks rise; S&P 500 wraps up 7th monthly gain in row
U.S. stocks inched ahead Tuesday after the makers of Kellogg’s cereal and Oreos joined the parade of companies reporting stronger profits than expected.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index finished October with its seventh straight month of gains, the longest such streak in more than four years.
Kellogg jumped 6.2% to $62.53 and Mondelez International climbed 5.4% to $41.43 after each reported stronger results for the latest quarter than expected.
“It’s been a fantastic earnings season,” said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade. “People talk about taxes, low interest rates and all these other things, but what really drives the market is earnings.”
More than half the companies in the S&P 500 have reported their results for last quarter, and most have topped Wall Street’s forecasts. Facebook is set to report on Wednesday and Apple on Thursday.
Rockwell Automation surged 7.4% to $200.82 — the biggest gain in the S&P 500 — after it received a buyout bid worth $215 a share in cash and stock. It said it rejected Emerson Electric’s unsolicited bid Oct. 10.
Under Armour recorded the largest loss in the S&P 500 after it said demand for its sporting gear in North America weakened last quarter and cut its forecast for earnings this year. Its Class A shares plunged 23.7% to $12.52.
Nautilus dropped 20.3% to $13 after the fitness products maker cut its forecasts as sales of its TreadClimber device continued to fall.
Besides earnings, investors are facing a deluge of other events.
Several of the world’s largest central banks are meeting this week, and the Bank of Japan decided Tuesday to keep its interest rates at ultra-low levels. The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates Thursday, which would be the first increase in a decade. And the U.S. Federal Reserve will wrap up a two-day meeting Wednesday, though most economists expect it to wait until December to raise rates again.
More attention is on President Trump’s choice for the next Fed chair. He is expected to make the announcement Thursday.
Washington’s attempts to cut income-tax rates are also of interest. A cut would help boost profits for companies, and smaller companies’ stocks in particular have been rising and falling in sync with expectations for a tax-system overhaul.
Bond yields held steady Tuesday as prices for Treasurys were close to flat. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note stayed at 2.37%.
The dollar inched up to 113.71 yen from 113.18. The euro rose to $1.1651 from $1.1637.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 23 cents to $54.38 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 47 cents to $61.37 a barrel. Natural gas fell 7 cents to $2.90 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil was close to f lat at $1.88 a gallon. Wholesale gasoline rose 2 cents to $1.78 a gallon.
Gold fell $7.20 to $1,270.50 an ounce. Silver fell 15 cents to $16.69 an ounce. Copper fell a penny to $3.10 a pound.
In overseas markets, the French CAC 40 rose 0.2%, and the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.1%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was virtually flat, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.3%, and South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.9%.