US stock rally fizzles out
TSX drops below 16,300
CItigroup shares up
US benchmarks were mixed at the close, having shot out of the box earlier on.
The Dow Jones finished at 25,793, down 10 points, having breached 26,000 earlier.
The S&P 500 was down 10 at 2,776. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 37 points at 7,224.
US crude shed 0.78% a barrel to US$63.80.
In Toronto, the TSX was 73 points lower at 16,299.
MID-SESSION
The US rally was still on at mid-session but benchmarks had pulled back from earlier highs.
The Dow Jones is up 122 at 25,926, the S&P 500 added 3.52 at 2,789.
The tech heavy Nasdaq is up 6.36 at 7,267.
In Toronto, the TSX shed over 40 points to stand at 16,331.
In companies a big gainer was Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:HAWK) which rose over 23% to US$44.98.
It came after the company agreed to be acquired by Silver Lake for US$45.25 per share in cash.
On the downside, Eiger Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EIGR) shed almost 47% to US$8.53 each as it revealed that its Phase 2 LIBERTY study in pulmonary arterial hypertension did not meet the primary endpoint.
OPEN
Wall Street shares surged to another record breaking start on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones breaching the 26,000 mark.
The benchmark index is up 251 points at the time of writing, at 26,054.
The broader based S&P 500 is up 19 points at 2,805, while the tech heavy Nasdaq index is ahead by over 64 at 7,325.
The Dow Jones hits 26,000 just moments after the opening bell. #DowJones #StockMarket #WallStreet #Dow26K
— Varney & Co. (@Varneyco) January 16, 2018
Neil Wilson, at etxcapital, said: "The stunning start to 2018 continued on Tuesday with another set of records on Wall Street as traders returned from holiday.
"A strong start to earnings season lifted optimism and helped the Dow breach 26k for the first time.
If earnings keep on at this pace we could see further gains over the coming fortnight. Tax charges are resulting in big one-off hits for some, but underlying earnings trends appear strong."
In Toronto, which gained yesterday, the largest index, the TSX, is today down 12.74 at 16,359.
US crude -West Texas Intermediate - is down 0.28% to US$64.12 a barrel, while the gold price is down 0.04% to US$1,334.40 an ounce.
US market trade was bolstered by corporate releases such as from Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), which put on 1.34% to US$77.81 in early deals.
The investment bank revealed (as it had already flagged) that its fourth quarter earnings have been wiped out by a US$22bn charge related to the new US tax law.
The bank said that it lost US$18.3bn in the fourth quarter, mainly due to writing down the bank’s deferred-tax assets.
Without the tax charge, the bank would have made US$1.28 per share, beating the US$1.19 consensus penciled in by analysts, versus the US$3.57bn or US$1.14 per share recorded a year ago.
Revenue rose to US$17.26bn from US$17.01bn a year ago.