Wall Street trimmed earlier strong gains in afternoon trading today after Wall Street found relief in Beijing's efforts to halt a selloff in Chinese stocks, which lifted markets around the world.
The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) added 0.5 percent to 2,056.60 at 3:31 p.m. in New York.
The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) gained 0.4 percent to 17,588.68, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) added 0.5 percent to 4,933.32.
In China, stocks halted a rout to post the biggest gain since 2009 amid volatile trading. Regulators banned major stockholders from selling stakes, with more than half the country’s listed companies suspended from trading.
Greece’s financial crisis and China’s equity market turmoil have diverted attention from U.S. economic data and the path of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, as investors grow concerned about global growth.
DATA:
New applications for U.S. unemployment insurance benefits rose last week to their highest rate since February, but remained at levels considered consistent with a firming labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 297,000 for the week that ended July 4, the U.S. Department of Labor said today.
MOVERS:
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 1.8 percent to $120.32. Part of Apple’s decline was because of concern the recent China’s stock-market tumble has destroyed a significant amount of its citizens’ wealth, traders said.
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) gained 1.1 percent to $10.62. The aluminum producer unofficially kicked off the second-quarter earnings season yesterday, with an earnings report that beat analysts’ expectations on sales..
MasterCard (NYSE:MA) rose 0.8 percent to $93.26, shaking off news that the EU filed antitrust charges against the credit-card company, claiming it artificially raised the cost of card payments within the EU.
Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) advanced 0.9 percent to $37.53 after saying it is rolling out a new fantasy-sports service designed for use on mobile devices.
ADRs of YY (NASDAQ:YY) picked up 2.6 percent after the social platform received a buyout offer from top executives that values the company at $3.7 billion, the latest Chinese business to receive such a proposal.
PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) slid 1 percent to $94.66 after the beverage company posted adjusted second-quarter earnings of $1.32 a share, beating analyst estimates of $1.24 a share.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA), a drugstore chain, added 4.5 percent to $89.90 after its third-quarter profit beat expectations.
Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) dropped 0.2 percent to $139.62. The largest U.S. warehouse-club chain said sales at stores open for at least one year slipped 1 percent in June, following a rare quarterly drop in the metric in its latest quarter.
L Brands (NYSE:LB) decreased 2.2 percent to $84.06 after the specialty retail business said its June sales rose from the previous year, but the increase was less than Wall Street had expected.
WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) fell 6.7 percent to $82.10 after the specialty-chemicals firm reported earnings that missed Wall Street’s forecasts. It also cut its guidance for the year. The company cites the strong dollar and quality problems in Asia for a slide in sales.
T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) rose 1.0 percent to $38.85. The Bellevue, Washington-based company added 2.1 million customers in the second quarter, 41 percent more than a year earlier, bringing its total customers to 58.9 million.
COMMODITIES:
Gold for August delivery fell 0.4 percent to close at $1,159.20 an ounce on Comex.
August West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2 percent to $52.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.