Palantir a high-risk investment with ’a one-of-a-kind growth and margin model’
* BofA, PNC, BNY Mellon rise on strong results
* Drug distributors seek to settle opioid lawsuits -WSJ
* Retail sales fall for first time in 7 months in Sept
* Adobe drops on Citi downgrade
* Indexes off: Dow 0.05%, S&P 500 0.08%, Nasdaq 0.24%
(Updates market action)
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Arjun Panchadar
Oct 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were flat on Wednesday as a
raft of upbeat earnings reports underlined a solid start to
third-quarter results, while concerns over an escalation in the
U.S.-China trade war and weak economic indicators lingered.
Wall Street came under pressure after the U.S. House of
Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation related to
pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, while data on Wednesday
showed a fall in U.S. retail sales for the first time in seven
months in September. However, investors cheered positive results from Bank of
America BAC.N , which rose 2.1% after beating analysts'
estimates for third-quarter profit. PNC Financial Services Group Inc PNC.N and Bank of New
York Mellon Corp BK.N also rose after better-than-expected
earnings. The reports followed strong earnings on Tuesday from
JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N and Citigroup Inc C.N , showing
consumer confidence remained strong despite recession fears that
have led businesses to pull back on spending and borrowing.
"We had a pretty good celebration yesterday after the first
busy day of earnings and we got another busy day today, so I
think that the path of least resistance is a little bit lower
today," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National
Securities in New York.
The S&P 500 bank sector .SPXBK gained 0.3% after hitting a
one-year high on Tuesday.
Analysts have forecast the worst quarterly earnings season
in nearly three years for S&P 500 companies, as domestic
economic growth shows signs of slowing on the fallout from the
tariff war with China.
Of the 43 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so
far, 86% have topped Wall Street expectations, according to IBES
data from Refinitiv.
Analysts expect market action to turn positive through the
session, as optimism from solid earnings reports overshadows
mixed political headlines.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.37-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.20-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
At 11:23 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 13.72 points, or 0.05 percent, at 27,011.08, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 2.34 points, or 0.08 percent, at 2,993.34.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 19.22 points, or 0.24
percent, at 8,129.49, coming under pressure from a 3.6% fall in
shares of Adobe Inc ADBE.O after Citigroup downgraded the
Photoshop software maker. Among other stocks, United Airlines UAL.O was up 2.6%
after the carrier raised its 2019 profit target.
Drug distributors McKesson MCK.N , AmerisourceBergen
ABC.N and Cardinal Health CAH.N jumped between 4% and 5.5%
after a report that they were in talks with state and local
governments to settle thousands of opioid lawsuits for $18
billion. Investors now await Netflix Inc NFLX.O and International
Business Machines IBM.N , due to report after markets close on
Wednesday.
The S&P index recorded 12 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 27 new highs and 46 new lows.