US Close Report 25 Jan 19: Tech names boosted by better earnings; doubts remain over trade

* European sharemarkets were mixed on Thursday. Investors
digested weaker data with the euro area Markit composite index
down from 51.1 to 50.7 in January. Banks fell on downbeat
comments from European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi. Draghi
said that euro zone economic growth may be weaker than forecast.
But tech stocks rose in response to an upbeat forecast from
chipmaker STMicro. The pan-European STOXX600 index rose by
0.2%. The UK FTSE lost 0.4% while the German Dax index lifted
0.5%. In London trade, shares of Rio Tinto rose by 0.1% and BHP
rose by 0.4%.

* US sharemarkets were mixed on Thursday. Denting sentiment
were comments from US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross who
said that the US and China were "miles and miles" away from a
trade agreement. But chipmakers and airlines rose on positive
earnings results. According to Refinitiv data, of the 97 S&P 500
companies that have reported fourth-quarter results, 75.3% have
topped profit estimates. With an hour of trade to go the Dow Jones
index was down by 50 points or 0.2%. The S&P500 index was down
0.1%. But the Nasdaq index was up 32 points or 0.5%.

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