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Apr 142015
 
Trader Sal Suarino works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, April 14, 2015. Wall Street stocks finished mostly higher Tuesday following mixed corporate earnings news and slightly disappointing US retail sales in March. AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW

Trader Sal Suarino works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, April 14, 2015. Wall Street stocks finished mostly higher Tuesday following mixed corporate earnings news and slightly disappointing US retail sales in March. AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW

NEW YORK–Wall Street stocks finished mostly higher Tuesday following mixed corporate earnings news and slightly disappointing US retail sales in March.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 59.66 points (0.33 percent) to 18,036.70.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 3.41 (0.16 percent) at 2,095.84, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 10.96 (0.22 percent) to 4,977.29.

Earnings from large banks JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo exceeded expectations.

But analysts said a lower profit forecast from health-care giant Johnson & Johnson due to the strong dollar underscored fears that the greenback will dent multinationals’ earnings reports in the coming weeks.

US retail sales rebounded in March from a three-month slump, rising 0.9 percent, slightly below the consensus estimate of 1.0 percent.

Dow member JPMorgan tacked on 1.6 percent as first-quarter net income rose 12.2 percent to $5.9 billion behind strong investment banking and trading results.

Johnson & Johnson, another Dow member, was flat after trimming its full-year profit forecast due to the strong dollar. First-quarter net income translated into $1.56 per share, two cents above expectations.

Freight railroad Norfolk Southern dropped 4.2 percent following a warning that first-quarter earnings are expected to be 15 percent below last year’s due to lower revenues, in part from a decline in coal volumes.

Google fell 1.6 percent as The Wall Street Journal reported that European antitrust regulators plan to press charges against the tech giant.

Oil stocks pushed higher on rallying crude prices. Dow members ExxonMobil and Chevron rose 1.5 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively, while drilling company Transocean advanced 4.9 percent.

Online real estate company Zillow dropped 1.4 percent after warning that 2015 would be a “transition year” following a large acquisition of rival Trulia. Zillow projected 2015 sales of $690 million, well below the $753 million market estimate.

Cosmetics company Avon shot up 14.2 percent on reports it is considering the sale of its North American unit.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 1.90 percent from 1.94 percent, while the 30-year fell to 2.54 percent from 2.58 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

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Apr 132015
 
US stocks sag ahead of 1st-quarter earnings

In this Monday, Aug. 8, 2011, file photo, a pedestrian walks past the New York Stock Exchange in New York. US markets sagged Monday ahead of the takeoff of first-quarter earnings season, with traders hedging their bets after last week’s solid gains. AP PHOTO/JIN LEE NEW YORK–US markets sagged Monday ahead of the takeoff of first-quarter earnings season, with traders hedging their bets after last week’s solid gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 80.61 points (0.45 percent) at 17,977.04. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 9.63 (0.46 percent) to 2,092.43, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 7.73 (0.15 percent) at 4,988.25. The markets opened higher with the S&P 500 poised to make another run at its all-time record, but sellers took over halfway through the session. David Levy of Kenjol Capital Management said investors are taking a break to see what happens during the week. Earnings season gets going on Tuesday with JPMorgan Chase (+0.7 percent) and Wells Fargo (+0.6 percent) both reporting. General Electric, which primed last Friday’s market rise with a 10.8 percent gain on its plan to hive off most of its banking business, reversed course to fall 3.1 percent, pulling the Dow down. GE will release its first-quarter earnings report on Friday. Among tech shares, Facebook’s 1.2 percent rise and Netflix’s 4.4 percent rise limited the Nasdaq Composite’s fall. Comcast, though, dropped 1.7 percent. Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury slipped to 1.94 percent from 1.95 percent Friday, while Read More …

Jul 152014
 
Fil-Am prize-winning reporter freed after being held at US border

Supporters for Pulitzer prize winning journalist and immigrant advocate Jose Antonio Vargas from the Minority Affairs Council at the University of Texas-Pan American voice their opinion in front of the McAllen Border Patrol station after Vargas was arrested by US Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol Agents operating at McAllen-Miller International Airport and detained at the McAllen Border Patrol station Tuesday, July 15, 2014, in McAllen, Texas. AP PHOTO/THE MONITOR, JOEL MARTINEZ LOS ANGELES–Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and activist Jose Antonio Vargas, who revealed in 2011 that he is an undocumented immigrant, was freed by US border agents after being held for several hours Tuesday.   Campaigners and leaders including the mayor of New York had called for the Philippine-born 33-year-old’s release from detention in a Texas border town, some urging President Barack Obama to intervene in an incident that threatened to inflame an already fiery immigration debate.   Vargas has been in the southern US state to highlight the plight of tens of thousands of children from Central America who have flooded across the border and into the United States in the past year in search of a better life, his campaign group Define American said.   A high-profile campaigner for the rights of fellow immigrants, he was detained at the airport in McAllen, where he planned to board a flight to Los Angeles, before being freed later in the day, authorities and Define American said.   ‘Generosity of American people’   “As an unaccompanied child migrant myself, I came Read More …