Dow Jones End of Day Update May 17:
- On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged higher with a 0.90% gain at the time of writing.
- Although financial markets tried to recover on Tuesday, they are largely amid an extended sell-off that has hurt some of the biggest names in the stock market.
- The seven-week decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the longest since 2001, and the six-week decline in the S&P 500 was the longest since June 2011.
Global equity benchmarks rallied, and US Treasury yields edged higher on Tuesday as the easing of China’s tech and COVID-19 crackdown and robust US retail sales signaled stronger economic growth in April.
Retail sales rose 0.9% last month, while data for March was revised upwards to show sales growth of 1.4% instead of the 0.7% previously reported, the Commerce Department said.
Data shows US consumers are weathering inflationary headwinds as sales rose for the fourth month, said Geoffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial. However, he said sales are nominal, so most growth has come from higher prices.
| Ticker | Pre Market Price | Chg.% | Price | Chg.% | Volume | 52W Range | 1 M % | 3 M % | 6 M % | 1 Y % | 3 Y % | 5 Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BA | 127.02 | 2.39 | 130.39 | 5.11 | 6.35M | 120.3258.4 | -31.82 | -41.92 | -45.26 | -45.59 | -65.06 | -30.61 |
| CSCO | 49.49 | 1.00 | 50.58 | 3.22 | 6.99M | 47.564.3 | -4.24 | -12.14 | -13.67 | -7.44 | -13.04 | 44.88 |
| DOW | 69.38 | 2.06 | 70.03 | 3.02 | 1.85M | 52.171.9 | 3.80 | 11.13 | 16.52 | -4.13 | 33.82 | – |
| JPM | 121.22 | 2.50 | 121.78 | 2.98 | 4.82M | 115.4173.0 | -6.23 | -21.90 | -28.10 | -28.18 | 6.76 | 40.33 |
| HON | 196.60 | 1.36 | 199.54 | 2.87 | 1.07M | 174.4236.9 | -0.63 | 5.08 | -12.03 | -14.36 | 14.13 | 49.27 |
| AXP | 160.00 | 2.28 | 160.88 | 2.84 | 1.29M | 149.9199.6 | -13.65 | -20.07 | -12.91 | -0.27 | 31.38 | 104.83 |
| INTC | 43.79 | 1.65 | 44.19 | 2.56 | 11.56M | 42.058.4 | -5.67 | -9.44 | -14.23 | -22.14 | -4.03 | 22.95 |
“If price pressures can ease some of the pressure on consumers, we expect economic growth to pick up in the second quarter,” Roach said in an email.
That rally was a response to oversold conditions after the Nasdaq and S&P 500 posted their sixth consecutive weekly losses last week, said Anthony Saglimbene, global markets strategist at Ameriprise Financial.
“In the stock market, a battle rages between whichever will collapse first: inflation or the consumer. The stock market is betting that the consumer will collapse, and the credit markets are betting that inflation will collapse first,” he said.
“The stock market is approaching a hypercorrection and pricing in the probability of a recession, which I believe is overestimated,” Saglimbene said.
The data also showed that industrial production rose 1.1% in April, with capacity utilization at its highest level since 2007. However, the sector is moving too fast, and inflation needs to be slowed to bring it under control, Bill said Adams, the chief economist at Comerica Bank.
The Federal Reserve will raise the federal funds rate by half a percentage point at each of its next two policy meetings to throw some dust on the economy, Adams said in an email.
After weak retail and manufacturing numbers in China and disappointing US manufacturing data, concerns remain over the strength of the world’s two largest economies.
Hopes that China could ease two key restrictions kept equity markets positive early Tuesday.
Shanghai has reached a long-awaited milestone as there have been no new COVID-19 cases outside quarantine zones for three straight days, which could prompt the city’s tough lockdown to be lifted.
Dow Jones technical analysis:
The index climbed above the 20-period SMA on the 4-hour chart. The price looks promising. The next aim for the bulls could be 50-period SMA around 33,430. On the flip side, a close below the 20-period SMA will propel the price downwards towards the 31,000 area.
