Wall Street climbs on strong Goldman earnings, retail sales data

U.S. stocks rose on Friday and the main indexes were set for weekly gains after Goldman Sachs capped a strong earnings season for big banks, while a surprise rise in retail sales raised optimism about economic recovery.

Goldman Sachs gained 1.5% as a record wave of dealmaking activity drove a surge in the bank’s quarterly profit.

Other big lenders including JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo rose between 0.6% and 2.9%. The banking index added 0.8%, tracking a rise in 10-year Treasury yields.

Ten of the 11 major S&P sectors advanced in early trading, with economy-sensitive energy, financials and industrials rising the most.

Strong results from big financial institutions have taken focus away from concerns about surging commodity prices and supply chain disruptions, which had fueled market volatility earlier this month.

A Commerce Department report showed retail sales rose unexpectedly in September, but there are fears that supply constraints could disrupt the holiday shopping season amid continued shortages of motor vehicles and other goods.

“Everyone knows that these supply chain issues will last a little bit longer, but when you consider just how strong the earnings have been, there’s good reasons to be optimistic that there’s going to be continued momentum in the economy,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

At 09:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 199.48 points, or 0.57%, at 35,112.04, the S&P 500 was up 18.53 points, or 0.42%, at 4,456.79, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 35.82 points, or 0.24%, at 14,859.25.

Meanwhile, the White House announced it will lift travel restrictions for fully vaccinated foreign nationals effective Nov. 8, at land borders and for air travel.

The S&P 1500 Airlines index jumped 1.5%, while cruise operators Carnival Corp, Royal Carribean and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings added between 1.9% and 2.1%.

This week’s move into rate-sensitive growth names such as Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc and Google-parent Alphabet continued, with their shares inching up.

Moderna Inc rose 1.2% after a U.S. FDA panel voted to recommend booster shots of its COVID-19 vaccine for Americans aged 65 and older and high-risk people.

Western Digital slipped 1.6% as Goldman Sachs downgraded the storage hardware maker’s stock to “neutral” from “buy”.

Shares of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related firms Coinbase Global, China-based SOS, MicroStrategy Inc, Marathon Digital and Riot Blockchain added between 3.7% and 7.8% as bitcoin hit $60,000 for the first time since April.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.85-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.91-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 43 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 92 new highs and eight new lows.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor