Wall Street rose modestly today as a better-than-expected start to corporate earnings season raised investor confidence and outweighed a decline in commodities.
The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) inched up 0.1 percent to 2,129.41 at 3:38 p.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) edged up 0.1 percent to 18,111.40, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) added 0.2 percent to 5,221.75.
Gold prices plunged to their lowest in more than five years while copper prices hit their lowest in nearly two weeks. Oil prices fell too on signs of a growing glut in refined products.
Of the companies that have reported earnings so far, 70 percent have reported earnings above analyst expectations, above the 63 percent average beat rate since 1994.
The dollar index rose 0.13 percent to $97.99. It had earlier hit a three-month high due to expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike this year.
MOVERS:
Horizon Pharma (NASDAQ:HZNP) rose 3 percent to $38.18 after saying its second-quarter sales were much stronger than analysts expected and the drug maker raised its 2015 revenue and Ebitda guidance.
Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) leaped 48.7 percent to $5.82. The healthcare company’s kidney cancer treatment showed an increase in survival in a late-stage study, meeting its primary endpoint.
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) added 2.0 percent to $40.81. The oil-services giant said its per-share earnings and revenue beat expectations for the second quarter.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) fell 0.4 percent to $40.05. The owner of the world's largest brokerage bank, reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings as its bond and equities trading business outperformed those of its competitors.
Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) declined 2.6 percent to $80.85 after Barclays Plc cut its rating on the real estate listings website to underweight, similar to sell.
SunEdison (NYSE:SUNE) rose 0.7 percent to $31.78 after the renewable energy company said today that it and its publicly traded power plant unit, TerraForm Power, would acquire Vivint Solar (NYSE:VSLR) for about $2.2 billion in cash and securities.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 0.7 percent to $46.95. Microsoft will buy Israeli cybersecurity company Adallom for $320 million, according to Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist.
Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) advanced 6.6 percent to $83.36 after the toy giant delivered quarterly profit and revenue that topped expectations.
COMMODITIES:
August gold dropped 2.2 percent to settle at $1,106.80 an ounce on Comex.
West Texas Intermediate August crude fell 1.5 percent to $50.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.