US Close 24 Jan 19: Wall St sees mixed trade as bellwethers report strong earnings

 US sharemarkets were higher on Wednesday. Shares in IBM rose 8.5% after its profit beat analyst forecasts. Shares in United Technologies rose by 5.4% and shares in Proctor & Gamble rose by 4.9% in response to their earnings results. But technology stocks were generally lower. And White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett warned that the government shutdown could result in the economy contracting in the March quarter. US President Trump said that the US was doing well in trade talks with China. The Dow Jones index was up 171 points or 0.7% after earlier being up 296 points. The S&P500 index was up 0.2%. The Nasdaq index was up 5 points or 0.1%.

European sharemarkets eased on Wednesday. Corporate updates were generally negative including those from UK bank, Metro Bank, French payment group Ingenico and chipmaker supplier ASML Holdings. There were positive trading updates from European retailers. The pan-European STOXX600 index fell by 0.1% after moving in and out of positive territory over the session. The UK FTSE lost 0.9% while the German Dax index eased by 0.2%. In London trade, shares of Rio Tinto fell by 2.2% and BHP lost 1.1%.

 

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