The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 27,025.88 on Thursday with a gain of 23.90 points or 0.09%. The S&P 500 closed at 2,997.95 for a gain of 8.26 points or 0.28%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 8,156.85 for a gain of 32.67 points or 0.40%. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 13.82 for a gain of 0.14 points or 1.02%.
Thursday’s market movers
U.S. indexes gained Thursday with positive Brexit news. The U.K. and European Union have agreed on a deal that must be passed by Britain’s parliament, with a vote scheduled for Saturday.
Morgan Stanley (MS, Financial) topped the day’s earnings headlines with an earnings beat. Many other companies also reported results Thursday.
- Morgan Stanley: Revenue of $10.03 billion increased 1.6% year over year and beat estimates by $400 million. Third-quarter GAAP earnings of $1.27 per share beat estimates by 16 cents and non-GAAP earnings of $1.21 per share beat estimates by 9 cents.
- E*Trade Financial (ETFC, Financial), SunTrust Banks (STI, Financial), KeyCorp (KEY, Financial), M&T Bank (MTB, Financial), Union Pacific (UNP, Financial) and Honeywell (HON, Financial) also reported earnings.
Economic reports affecting market trading included the following:
- Mortgage rates increased according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage market survey. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.69%, up from 3.57%. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.15%, increasing from 3.05%.
- Building permints decreased 2.7% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.387 million. Housing starts decreased 9.4% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.256 million.
- Jobless claims increased to 214,000 from 210,000.
- The Fed’s Industrial Production and Capacity report showed industrial production down 0.4% in September and down 0.1% year over year. Manufacturing production was down 0.5% in September and 0.9% year over year. Capacity utilization decreased to 77.5% from 77.9%.
- The Treasury held auctions for four-week bills at a rate of 1.720%, eight-week bills at a rate of 1.665% and five-year TIPS at a rate of 0.054%.
In the S&P 500, the health care, real estate and consumer staples sectors led gains. In the S&P 100, the following stocks led gains:
- UnitedHealth (UNH, Financial) 3.00%
- Netflix (NFLX, Financial) 2.49%
- Honeywell (HON, Financial) 2.42%
- Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA, Financial) 2.28%
- Morgan Stanley (MS, Financial) 1.61%
- American Express (AXP, Financial) 1.52%
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,541.84 for a gain of 16.79 points or 1.10%. The S&P 600 closed at 955.41 for a gain of 10.36 points or 1.10%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 9,818.81 for a gain of 102.30 points or 1.05%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 9,427.61 for a gain of 70.67 points or 0.76%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1,938.65 for a gain of 16.25 points or 0.85%; the S&P 100 at 1,329.82 for a gain of 3.09 points or 0.23%; the Nasdaq 100 at 7,942.14 for a gain of 21.93 points or 0.28%; the Russell 3000 at 1,755.15 for a gain of 6.26 points or 0.36%; the Russell 1000 at 1,655.37 for a gain of 5.06 points or 0.31%; the Wilshire 5000 at 30,611.86 for a gain of 95.55 points or 0.31%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 722.71 for a gain of 1.19 points or 0.16%.
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