US stocks have rallied from intraday lows, picking up momentum after a dreary open and ending the day narrowly in the black.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.22 (0.02 per cent) to 15,558.83. The Dow sank as low as 15,405.16 earlier in the session.
The broad-based S&P 500 finished 1.40 (0.08 per cent) higher at 1,691.65, while the Nasdaq Composite Index put on 7.98 (0.22 per cent) at 3,613.16.
Analysts said volume was low as is typical for a Friday in late July. The day was fairly light in economic news and corporate earnings results.
Trade once again revealed the “resilience” of equity markets, said David Levy, a portfolio manager at Kenjol Capital Management.
“Buyers are buying the dip,” Levy said, calling the dynamic a “very bullish” pattern.
Starbucks surged 7.6 per cent higher after earnings jumped 25 per cent on strong increases in comparable-store sales, including a 9 per cent rise in the US.
Online travel booking company Expedia plummeted 27.4 per cent after earnings of 64 cents per share lagged analyst expectations by 18 cents. Revenues also fell short of estimates.
Online game developer Activision Blizzard shot up 15.0 per cent after announcing a pair of transactions in which the company and an investor group led by the company’s chief executive and co-chairman would purchase from Vivendi a total of more than $US8 billion ($A8.71 billion) worth of shares. Vivendi will no longer be the majority shareholder following the transactions.
Dow component Boeing dipped 1.0 per cent on news that Qatar Airways reportedly had grounded a 787 Dreamliner aircraft and All Nippon Airways had found minor damage on two emergency beacons on another 787.
Online bookseller Amazon reversed early losses and ended 2.8 per cent higher despite reporting a $US7 million quarterly loss. But revenues met expectations, leaping 22 per cent to $US15.7 billion.
Oil-services giant Halliburton jumped 3.7 per cent after announcing plans to hold a modified “Dutch auction” to repurchase up to $US3.3 billion in shares.
The announcement came as the Justice Department announced Halliburton agreed to plead guilty to destroying evidence related to the Deepwater Horizon oil-spill disaster. Halliburton said it would pay a $US200,000 fine in the settlement.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond fell to 2.56 per cent from 2.61 per cent late on Thursday, while the 30-year dropped to 3.62 per cent from 3.67 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
