The craziness of trade disputes was alive and well today, and you’re allowed to have a headache.
After Monday’s huge rally, built on the prospects for Middle East peace, China started to retaliate against President Trump’s threat to boost tariffs by, oh, 100% on Chinese imports unless there’s a trade deal soon.
The result was futures slumped and U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Tuesday. But the market came back mostly because earnings reports from banks were better than expected.
The Dow Jones industrials, once down as many as 615 points, at last check were up 355. The S&P 500 was up 13 points, but the Nasdaq Composite Index was off 59 points, or 0.26%. Nvidia was down 2.8%. Broadcom was off 2.05%.
Bank earnings overwhelmingly dominated the third-quarter earnings reports today, and the S&P 500 financial sector overall gained more than 1%. There were two exceptions: JPMorgan Chase, the most valuable of the group, and Goldman Sachs, the giant investment bank. They were off 0.7% and 0.4% respectively.
Tuesday Reading:.
JPMorgan’s earnings were up about 10% from a year ago, but the financial behemoth said it had to write off $170 million in loans made to auto-lender Tricolor Auto Group, which filed for bankruptcy last month. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said the write-off “was not our finest moment.” More problem loans may hit banks, he warned.
Seven of 11 S&P sectors were higher on the day, led by Consumer Staples. Technology and Consumer Discretionary stocks were lower. The bulk of the Magnificent 7 Stocks live in these sectors.
Oil prices were in the $58 range, the lowest level since spring, on worries about a global supply glut. Bitcoin fell $3,464 to $112,454. The cryptocurrency has dropped 9.7% from its 52-week high of $126,273, reached just last week..
TurboTax Via TheStreet:
-- Charley Blaine
