Author: Ken Sweet
-
Strong February wipes out S&P 500s’ January loss
NEW YORK – After two months of trading, the stock market is back where it started. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 4.3 percent in February, the biggest gain since October 2013, helped by strong corporate earnings and a Federal Reserve that seems to have Wall Street’s back at every turn. But the rise…
-
Stocks end lower after an up-and-down day
NEW YORK – Stocks were unable to find any momentum on Tuesday. The market drifted between gains and losses throughout the day, then headed steadily lower in the last hour of trading. Investors found some solace in strong results from Home Depot and Macy’s. The enthusiasm was not enough, however, to offset an unexpectedly steep…
-
Wall Street kicks off the week with respectable gains
NEW YORK – The stock market ended higher Monday, but a late fade kept it from closing at an all-time high. The market marched broadly higher most of the day, helped by optimism about the economy and more corporate mergers, only to slowly lose momentum in the final half hour of trading. The Standard &…
-
Stock market sinks over concerns about Fed’s move on interest rates
NEW YORK – Stocks fell Wednesday as investors were left uneasy by news that Federal Reserve policymakers were willing to start raising short-term interest rates sooner than previously expected. The market was mixed most of the day, then turned lower after 2 p.m., when the Fed released the minutes from its January policy meeting. The…
-
Wall Street sees mixed results on a mostly quiet trading day
NEW YORK – Stocks closed mostly higher Tuesday on Wall Street as traders got back to work after a long holiday weekend. It was a fairly quiet day for traders, who had relatively little news to react to. Health care stocks far more than the rest of the market after pharmaceutical company Actavis said it…
-
Stock market surges after new Fed chair’s comments
NEW YORK – Reassuring words from the new head of the Federal Reserve sent stocks soaring on Tuesday and gave the market its longest winning streak this year. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped nearly 200 points after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said she would continue the central bank’s market-friendly, low-interest rate policies. Investors also…
-
Stocks edge up ever so slightly in quiet day on Wall Street
NEW YORK – The stock market ended up more or less where it began Monday in a quiet day for investors who had little economic data or company earnings to react to. Analysts said the market is likely to remain in a holding pattern until traders hear from Janet Yellen in her first testimony before…
-
Another bad day on Wall Street caps a bad month for the stock market
NEW YORK – Stock investors were hit from all sides in January. Concerns about the global economy and U.S. company earnings, as well as turmoil in emerging markets, led the Dow Jones industrial average to its worst start since 2009. However, many investors remain hopeful that the problems will not spill over into the rest…
-
Weak earnings reports drag down S&P, Dow
NEW YORK – A batch of negative company news gave investors something to fret over Thursday. A day after eking out its first record high of 2014, the stock lost ground Thursday as electronics retailer Best Buy, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and railroad CSX had disappointing earnings news. Consumer discretionary companies and banks fell the…
-
Stocks head back down as sluggish start to 2014 drags on
NEW YORK – The stock market stumbled Wednesday as investors waited for the government’s jobs report later this week and the beginning of quarterly earnings releases from corporate America. Traders put aside a positive report that showed private employers created more jobs in December than economists had expected. The market had a muted reaction to…