NEW YORK — Stocks inched higher early Wednesday as investors awaited the results of the Federal Reserve's first policy meeting under its new chair, Janet Yellen. Technology stocks struggled after Oracle reported earnings and revenue that fell short of what investors were expecting.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 15 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,351 as of 10 a.m. Eastern. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose a point, or 0.1 percent, to 1,873.53 and the Nasdaq composite was essentially unchanged at 4,333.
YELLEN'S DEBUT: Investors will be watching closely for any hints of how Yellen will differ from her predecessor, Ben Bernanke. The central bank is expected to announce a further reduction of its economic stimulus program, reducing its monthly bond purchases from $65 billion a month to $55 billion. Yellen also will preside over her first news conference as Fed chair this afternoon.
HOMEBUILDERS: KB Homes, one of the nation's largest homebuilders, jumped $1.44, or 8 percent, to $19.12 after the company reported much higher profits than investors were expecting. KB earned 12 cents a share, four cents more than analysts had forecast. The company also said the average selling price of a new home rose 12 percent from last year. Other homebuilders also rose. D.R. Horton, PulteGroup and Toll Brothers gained 2 percent or more.
ORACLE LAGS: Technology giant Oracle fell $1.07, or 3 percent, to $37.78. The database software maker reported a slight rise in revenue and profits from a year ago, but the results came in short of analysts' predictions. Oracle's results dragged down IBM, SAP and Microsoft.
BONDS AND COMMODITIES: Bond prices fell slightly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.69 percent from 2.67 percent late Tuesday. The price of oil edged up 10 cents to $98.98 a barrel. Gold fell $15 to $1,343 an ounce.
EUROPEAN AND ASIA: Germany's DAX rose 0.6 percent and France's CAC-40 rose 0.2 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 was trading around the breakeven mark. In Japan, the Nikkei rose 0.4 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.2 percent.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Stocks barely higher ahead of Fed decision
Dengan url
http://terdiamtersipu.blogspot.com/2014/03/stocks-barely-higher-ahead-of-fed.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Stocks barely higher ahead of Fed decision
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Stocks barely higher ahead of Fed decision
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar