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* Easing geopolitical tensions spur risk-on mood
* Apple, internet giants rally on positive brokerage
comments
* Kohl's slides on lower holiday season sales
* Indexes up: Dow 0.63%, S&P 0.54%, Nasdaq 0.77%
(Updates prices, adds details, changes comment)
By Sruthi Shankar and Susan Mathew
Jan 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks hit record highs on Thursday
as Middle East tensions eased, optimism about a U.S.-China trade
deal firmed and several brokerages boosted price targets on
high-profile companies.
Investors snapped up market heavyweights including Apple Inc
AAPL.O , Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O ,
Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O and Facebook Inc FB.O , lifting their
shares between 0.9% and 2.0%.
Apple gained on twin support from data showing iPhone sales
jumped more than 18% in China in December, as well as a price
target hike by Jefferies on expectations of a strong finish to
2019. Cowen Equity Research raised its price target on Alphabet,
Facebook, and Twitter Inc TWTR.N after its survey of U.S. ad
buyers showed upbeat spending in 2020. Technology stocks
.SPLRCT rose 1%, the most among the major S&P sectors.
After a wobbly start to the new year on fears of an all-out
conflict in the Middle East, nerves eased as Washington and
Tehran looked to defuse the crisis after Iran's retaliatory
attack following the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general.
In another support to stocks, China's commerce ministry said
Vice Premier Liu He will sign a Phase 1 deal in Washington next
week. "The fear of a new Middle East war was taken off the table
and the assertion that China is going to ink a deal with America
kind of gives a path to growth globally," said Kim Forrest,
chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in
Pittsburgh.
"And it's January — people tend to put money into the market
and that tends to drive it up."
At 11:29 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 182.22 points, or 0.63%, at 28,927.31, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 17.59 points, or 0.54%, at 3,270.64 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 70.40 points, or 0.77%, at 9,199.64.
Among the weak spots was the department store operator
Kohl's Corp KSS.N , which slid 9.2% after reporting lower
holiday season sales. Smaller rival J.C. Penney Co Inc JCP.N dropped 10.8% after
disappointing same-store sales numbers.
With the fourth-quarter earnings season kicking off next
week, analysts expect profits for S&P 500 companies to drop 0.6%
in their second consecutive quarterly decline, according to
Refinitiv IBES data.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.39-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.68-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 67 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 129 new highs and 8 new lows.