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US business activity rises to 11-month high in April
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Procter & Gamble gains on upbeat sales forecast
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Amazon gains as research firm predicts upbeat retail sales
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Albemarle falls on Chile move to nationalize lithium
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Indexes: Dow down 0.03%, S&P up 0.01%, Nasdaq up 0.05%
(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to mid-afternoon trading)
By Lewis Krauskopf, Sruthi Shankar and Ankika Biswas
April 21 (Reuters) - Major U.S. stock indexes were
little changed on Friday following mixed earnings results as
investors assessed how conflicting economic data might influence
interest rates and looked ahead to a massive week of corporate
reports.
A survey showed U.S. business activity accelerated to an
11-month high in April, further clouding the outlook for the
Federal Reserve's monetary policy after data earlier in the week
indicated a softening economy.
Procter & Gamble Co's shares rose 3.6% as the
consumer company's customers kept buying despite repeated price
hikes, helping the Tide detergent maker boost its sales forecast
and third-quarter margins.
The benchmark S&P 500 has edged lower over the early stages
of a first-quarter earnings season that investors expect to show
tepid results. Next week will see a flood of reports, including
from megacap tech and growth companies whose shares have helped
the S&P 500 rally to start the year.
“The market has been basically in a bit of a holding pattern
ahead of big tech earnings next week,” said Keith Lerner,
co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services. "There
is a tug of war between good and bad economic data, good and bad
earnings data.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.46 points, or 0.03%, to 33,777.16, the S&P 500 gained 0.59 points, or 0.01%, to 4,130.38 and the Nasdaq Composite added 6.63 points, or 0.05%, to 12,066.18. Results next week are due from some of the largest U.S. companies by market value, including Microsoft , Google parent Alphabet and Amazon . Amazon shares rose 3.9% on Friday after a research firm predicted the online heavyweight's retail business in North America is set to beat Wall Street's estimates. The materials group fell most among S&P 500 sectors, dropping 1%, weighed down by declines in Freeport-McMoRan Inc and Albemarle Corp . Albemarle slumped 9.4% after Chile unveiled plans to nationalize the lithium industry. Shares of Freeport dropped 4.2% after the copper miner's first-quarter profit more than halved.
In other earnings news, HCA Healthcare Inc shares jumped 5.1% after the hospital operator lifted forecasts for 2023. Its report boosted shares of other hospital operators. So far, analysts have largely retained last week's expectations of a near-5% year-on-year fall in quarterly profits at S&P 500 companies, according to Refinitiv data. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.49-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.26-to-1 ratio favored decliners. The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 45 new highs and 156 new lows. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York, Sruthi Shankar, Ankika Biswas and Vansh Agarwal in Bengaluru Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and David Gregorio)
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