Stock Market News For Jan 15, 2018

Benchmarks closed in the green on Friday after several major banks posted encouraging earnings results. Additionally, domestic retail sales increased for the fourth-straight month, which had a positive impact on the consumer discretionary sector, while rise in oil prices boosted the energy sector. Gains in consumer discretionary and energy stocks benefitted key U.S. indexes, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at record highs for eight out of the first nine trading days this year.

Also, the Dow has ended at on a high for six trading days so far this year. All three benchmarks also posted their second straight weeks of gains. Both the S&P 500 and Dow registered weekly rallies for seven out of last eight weeks. Markets will remain closed on Monday due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

How the Benchmarks Fared?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) increased 0.9%, or 227.22 points to close at 25,075.13. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to close at 2,786.24. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 7,261.06, gaining 0.6%. The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) increased 2.8% to close at 10.16. A total of around 6.88 billion shares were traded on Friday, higher than the last 20-session average of 6.39 billion shares. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.17-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.54-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.

Q4 Earnings Season Commences

A slew of earnings results from major banks kicked off the fourth-quarter earnings season. Gains in JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) following upbeat earnings results led the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) to advance 0.9%.

Shares of JPMorgan rose 1.7% after its fourth-quarter earnings of $1.76 per share handily surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.69. Results exclude one-time tax related charge of $2.4 billion or 69 cents per share. Its revenues also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. (Read More: JPMorgan Q4 Earnings Beat Thanks to Investment Banking)

Additionally, the United States’ biggest asset manager BlackRock’s shares advanced 3.3% after its fourth quarter earnings per share and revenues beat their respective Zacks Consensus Estimate. Higher investment advisory, administration fees and securities lending revenues led this rise. (Read More: BlackRock's Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates, Expenses Rise)

Retail Sales Up for 4-Straight Months

Encouraging economic data boosted the retail sector along with the broader markets. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that CPI and core-CPI gained 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively. Further, the U.S. Census Bureau reported a rise of 0.4% in retail and food services sales in December to $495.4 billion, in line with the consensus estimate. Sales also rose 5.4% from the year ago level. Retail sales increased for the fourth straight month, ending 2017 on a high.

Additionally, excluding auto sales, the metric increased 0.4% and was higher than the consensus estimate of a 0.3% increase. This better-than-expected increase had a positive impact on some of the major consumer discretionary stocks, which in turn led the key indexes into positive territory.

The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) advanced 1.3%, becoming the biggest gainer among the key S&P 500 sectors. One of its biggest holdings, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 2.2%. Amazon have a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Oil Prices Rally Northward

A number of factors have propelled oil prices upward. These include the OPEC-led production cut extension, lower inventory overhang and rising demand.Adding to the positive momentum, energy bodies OPEC and IEA recently raised global oil demand forecasts for 2018, helping to tighten the market significantly.

Both WTI and Brent crude rose 0.8% and 0.9% to $64.30 per barrel and $69.87 a barrel, respectively. Increase in oil prices led the on the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE (NYSE:XLE)) to advance 1%. Some of its key components, including Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) rose 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively. Most of the 11 key S&P 500 sectors managed to close in the green.

Weekly Roundup

For the week, the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 2%, 1.6% and 1.7%, respectively. The week started on an upbeat note following optimism over the strong market rally that began in 2018. Markets gained traction during the latter part of the week after U.S. Treasury Yields declined following the auction of U.S. 30-year bonds. Moreover, Chinese officials denied reports that they were planning to cease purchase of U.S. Treasuries.

Stocks That Made Headlines

GameStop's Holiday Sales Rise, Soft View Hurts the Stock

GameStop Corp’s (NYSE:GME) posted robust holiday sales results. (Read More)

Wall Street’s Next Amazon

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