The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded from last week’s losses to reach near record high levels on Monday, July 14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day up 0.66% at 17,055.42, off 12.84 points from its previous high of 17,068.26 on July 3. The S&P 500 also gained, adding 0.49% to end the day at 1,977.10. The S&P 500’s 2014 high is 1,985.44.
A Goldman Sachs report released on Friday, July 11 revised its outlook for the U.S. markets. In a MarketWatch discussion on Goldman Sachs’ report it notes that the S&P 500 will end the year around 2,050. This outlook for the S&P 500 index was revised up from a previous report by Goldman Sachs which had the S&P 500 index ending the year at 1,900. Goldman Sachs continues to remain bullish on S&P 500 growth through the end of the year. Beyond 2014 Goldman Sachs holds its estimate basically unchanged with the S&P 500 leveling off to reach 2,100 in 2015 and 2,200 in 2016.
The day’s trading was highlighted by Citigroup (C, Financial) which reported earnings that beat analysts’ expectations and a settlement for $7 billion that would keep it from ongoing legal issues. The settlement for Citigroup pertains to the packaging and disclosure of certain mortgage-backed securities. The financial company’s earnings beat and settlement report were received favorably by the market which pushed its stock price higher, ending the day up 3.02% at $48.42. The S&P 500 Financial sector was up 0.62%. This news comes one day ahead of significant DJIA financial company earnings reports by JPMorgan (JPM, Financial) and Goldman Sachs (GS, Financial) on July 15.
In the DJIA financial stocks Visa (V, Financial) and Goldman Sachs led the index higher. Visa was up 1.86% ending at $221.03 and Goldman Sachs was up 1.33% ending the day at $167. Laggers in the index included Merck (MRK, Financial) which was down 0.44% to $58.18 and Wal-Mart (WMT, Financial) which was down 0.35% to $76.55.
In the S&P 500 the Energy sector was up 0.89% and the Technology sector gained 0.72%. The Financial sector followed with a gain of 0.62%.
