Robinhood shares gain on Q2 beat, as user and crypto growth accelerate
* MSCI ACWI gains, still set for weekly fall
* Crude choppy after Trump says U.S. Navy destroys Iranian
drone
* Dollar recovers as dovish Fed comments walked back
(Updates with close of European markets)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, July 19 (Reuters) - A gauge of global stocks
climbed on Friday as investors looked for a strongly dovish U.S.
Federal Reserve at its next meeting and as early returns on
earnings season have come in better than anticipated.
On Wall Street, a gain of 1.06% in Microsoft MSFT.O helped
lift the Dow and kept the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slightly afloat as
quarterly results topped expectations, powered by its cloud
business. Stocks received some modest follow-through to the plus side
following Thursday's late rally after two influential Federal
Reserve officials - New York Fed President John Williams and Fed
Board of Governors Vice Chair Richard Clarida - laid out the
case for quick action by the central bank to support the U.S.
economy. However, Williams' comments were later walked back, with the
New York Fed saying the speech was not about potential action at
the upcoming meeting.
That dialed back expectations to about 39% for a rate cut of
half a percentage point at the Fed's July 30-31 meeting,
according to CME's FedWatch tool. Markets see it as a certainty
the Fed will cut rates by at least a quarter of a percentage
point at the meeting. "Microsoft is a sign that not all companies are suffering
from the downturn we're seeing in manufacturing or the pressure
from interest rates that's affecting financials," said Jeff
Kleintop, chief global investment strategist, at Charles Schwab
in Boston.
Earnings expectations for the S&P 500 have been trending
upward recently and show growth of 1% for the second quarter,
according to Refinitiv data. As recently as Tuesday, earnings
were expected to show a decline for the quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 85.45 points,
or 0.31%, to 27,308.42, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 2.13 points,
or 0.07%, to 2,997.24 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
6.93 points, or 0.08%, to 8,214.18.
European shares closed slightly higher, having given up
early gains of as much as 0.7%, as political turmoil weighed on
Italian stocks after the country's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo
Salvini said he would meet coalition partner and leader of the
5-Star Movement Luigi Di Maio amid speculation that the
increasingly unwieldy government might collapse.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.12% and
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS gained
0.33%.
Despite Friday's advance, MSCI's index was poised to snap a
six-week streak of gains.
The walk back in the dovish Fed comments helped the dollar
recover from declines in the prior session, while the euro
weakened as expectations of a rate cut by the European Central
Bank as early as next week picked up steam. The dollar index .DXY rose 0.33%, with the euro EUR=
down 0.46% to $1.1223.
In oil markets, crude advanced but was off earlier highs
after climbing roughly 2% amid rising tensions between the
United States and Iran after a senior Trump administration
official said the U.S. will destroy any Iranian drones that fly
too close to its ships. Prices pulled back, however, with Brent prices on track for
their biggest weekly decline of the year and U.S. crude on pace
for its biggest weekly drop in two months.
U.S. crude CLcv1 rose 0.81% to $55.75 per barrel and Brent
LCOcv1 was last at $62.68, up 1.21% on the day.
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Global assets in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
MSCI All Country Wolrd Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
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