US Close Podcast 6 Feb 19: Earnings provide a boost US stocks

 US sharemarkets rose on Tuesday ahead of the State of the Union address. Positive earnings results drove up shares in cosmetics maker Estee Lauder by 12% and shares of luxury fashion group Ralph Lauren by 9%. Shares in Alphabet (Google) fell by 0.1% in reaction to its earnings result. With an hour of trade to go, the Dow Jones index was up by 165 points or 0.7%. The S&P500 index was up by 0.4%. And the Nasdaq index was up by 49 points or 0.7%.

 European sharemarkets were firmer on Tuesday. Shares in BP rose 5.2% after it revealed its profit doubled to US$12.7 billion in 2018. Shares in jewellery retailer Pandora rose 17.6% after announcing cost savings measures. Euro-zone banks rose by 1.7%. But Apple supplier, AMS, lost 6.9% after saying that first quarter revenue will fall. The pan-European STOXX600 index rose by 1.4%. The German Dax index lifted by 1.7% while the UK FTSE rose by 2.0%. In London trade, shares of Rio Tinto rose by 0.8% and BHP shares rose by 1.2%.

 

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