North American stock markets were drifting in mixed trading Wednesday, while oil prices climbed another three per cent as fighting continues in the war with Iran.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1 per cent, coming off its best day in three weeks, after swinging between modest losses and gains for much of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 61 points, or 0.1 per cent, as of 2:10 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3 per cent lower.
Meanwhile on Bay Street, the TSX was up by about 0.3 per cent, and helped out mainly by the mining sector, including those of gold and silver, while some technology, construction and retail stocks were lower.
The majority of stocks in the S&P 500 rose after more companies reported strong profits for the spring. Expectations are high for the reports, and companies will need to match them after their stock prices already neared records on anticipation for them.
Philip Morris International rose 2.4 per cent after the seller of Marlboro cigarettes reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected. Its shipments of smoke-free products rose 7.5 per cent.
AT&T climbed 2.7 per cent after reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected. CEO John Stankey also said the telecom is accelerating plans to send roughly US$10 billion to its shareholders this year through the buybacks of its stock.
Super Micro Computer soared 21.1 per cent after the seller of AI servers said it expects to report stronger profit margins for the latest quarter than it had earlier forecast. It, though, also said that revenue will likely come in at the low end of its forecasted range of $11 billion to $12.5 billion.
They helped offset a 7.9 per cent drop for GE Vernova, which reported a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
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Alphabet ticked 0.1 per cent higher ahead of its earnings report, which is scheduled to arrive after trading ends for the day. Anticipation is high, and not just because the parent company of Google is one of the largest stocks on Wall Street. It’s also one of the biggest spenders on artificial-intelligence technology.
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Investors are looking for signs that the deluge of dollars going into processors, computer memory and other building blocks of the AI boom are producing the kinds of productivity and profits that would make the investments worth it. If that isn’t the case, stocks of chip companies and other AI winners would look very expensive following their rushes higher.
Such worries have kept AI stocks at the center of Wall Street’s swings for weeks.
Micron Technology swung between a loss of 3.6 per cent and a gain of 0.8 per cent Wednesday. That’s after it jumped 14.4 per cent in the first two days of this week to reclaim nearly all its 13.3 per cent plunge from the week before. It’s still up roughly 241 per cent for the year so far.
Stocks broadly also felt pressure from continuing climbs for oil prices, which raise costs for most businesses and erode their profits.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 3.3 per cent to US$94 after briefly topping $95 in the morning to touch its highest price in nearly six weeks. That’s up from less than $72 early this month, which is roughly where it was before the war with Iran.
Rising oil prices are threatening a reacceleration of inflation. That in turn could push the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates, which would slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and other investments.
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The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.66 per cent from 4.63 per cent late Tuesday and from just 3.97 per cent before the war with Iran began. It’s already helped bring long-term U.S. mortgage rates to their highest levels in nearly a year.
Oil prices have climbed as fighting across the Middle East keeps oil tankers from using the Strait of Hormuz to exit the Persian Gulf. Normally, a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded passes through the narrow strait.
The auto club AAA said Wednesday that the average price for a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. jumped again overnight to $4.06. That’s still below highs of around $4.56 per gallon in May, but it had been below $3 before the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February.
In stock markets abroad, indexes climbed in Europe following a mixed session in Asia.
London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.2 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell one per cent for two of the world’s bigger moves.
– with a file from Global’s Ariel Rabinovitch
