Список проголосовавших за комментарий " Midday Market Summary: Earnings Stir Up the Bulls<p>The latest batch of earnings reports has stirred up the bulls in the first half of Tuesday's session, leaving the major averages comfortably higher at midday. The S&P 500 currently sports a gain of 0.6% while the Dow (+1.1%) outperforms.</p><p>Upbeat earnings reports from Dow components like <strong>Caterpillar</strong> (CAT 103.83, +7.04), <strong>McDonald's</strong> (MCD 141.20, +6.99), and <strong>DuPont</strong> (DD 81.52, +2.17) have prompted the price-weighted average to nearly double the S&P 500's gain. CAT shares have spiked 7.2% in reaction to a big, upside earnings surprise, better than expected revenues, and upbeat guidance. MCD and DD also trade solidly higher, up 5.2% and 2.8%, respectively, after beating top and bottom line estimates. </p><p><strong>3M</strong> (MMM 194.77, +0.56) also reported better than expected earnings and revenues, but it hasn't resulted in much of a gain for the company (+0.3%). <strong>Coca-Cola</strong> (KO 43.19, -0.09) was the last Dow component to report its quarterly results this morning, but the company has slipped 0.2% after missing earnings estimates. </p><p>Numerous other large-cap companies reported their quarterly results between yesterday's close and today's open with largely favorable outcomes. <strong>Biogen's</strong> (BIIB 287.24, +10.38) upbeat earnings and revenues are worth noting in light of its positive influence on the <strong>iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF</strong> (IBB 295.92, +4.31), which trades higher by 1.5%. </p><p>Eight of eleven sectors trade in positive territory with the utilities (-0.4%), telecom services (-0.6%), and real estate (-0.1%) groups being the three laggards. The materials sector (+1.3%) has held the top spot on today's leaderboard since the start of the session, sometimes sharing the accolade with the financial sector (+0.9%). The remaining groups hold gains between 0.4% (consumer staples) and 0.8% (consumer discretionary).</p><p>Moving away from the earnings front, reports that President Trump is willing to put his promised barrier along the U.S./Mexico border on hold in order to avoid a government shutdown have aided the bullish sentiment. In addition, investors have their eyes on President Trump's tax reform plan, an outline of which is expected to be released tomorrow. Reports indicate that the president will seek to lower the corporate tax rate to 15.0%.</p><p>In the bond market, U.S. Treasuries trade lower across the board, leaving the benchmark 10-yr yield higher by four basis points at 2.31%. Investors will keep an eye on the 10-yr yield to see if it can close above the 2.30% mark, which has acted as a level of resistance as of late. </p><p>On the data front, investors received several economic reports on Tuesday, including March New Home Sales, April Consumer Confidence, the February Case-Shiller Home Price Index, and the February FHFA Housing Price Index:</p><ul><li>New Home Sales in March hit an annualized rate of 621,000, which was above the revised February rate of 587,000 (from 592,000), and more than the 590,000 that was expected by the Briefing.com consensus.<ul><li>The key takeaway from the report is that demand for new homes was strong, notwithstanding higher price points from the same period a year ago.</li></ul></li><li>The consumer confidence reading for April fell to 120.3 from the prior month's revised reading of 124.9 (from 125.6). The Briefing.com consensus expected the survey to hit 122.3.<ul><li>The key takeaway from the report is that confidence remains at high levels and indicative of an expectation that the economy will continue to expand in the months ahead.</li></ul></li><li>The February Case-Shiller 20-city Index hit 5.9% to follow last month's unrevised 5.7% increase. The Briefing.com consensus expected a reading of 5.8%.</li><li>The FHFA Housing Price Index for February increased 0.8%, which followed a revised uptick of 0.2% (from 0.0%) in January.</li></ul>"