United States stocks advance; Citigroup gains on strong earnings

Stocks opened higher on Thursday following two days of losses as investors responded to a few positive earnings surprises.

Stock traders follow the price of First Data’s stock price at the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, October 15, 2015. Atlanta-based First Data, which is having its IPO Thursday, is the leading payment services provider to the e-c… US stocks are opening mixed as traders pore over the latest earnings reports for the third quarter. Wal-Mart also said its earnings per share would shrink by as much as 12 percent in 2017 due to an investment program. The Nasdaq composite gained 23 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,820.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 29 points, or 1.5 percent, to 2,023. Worries about the Chinese economy and the possibility of a Federal Reserve rate increase shook the market in August and September.

CHINA DATA: Inflation eased in China last month, stoking expectations that Beijing would have more leeway for interest rate cuts or other measures to boost economic growth.

On Thursday, financial stocks climbed 2.3 percent, the most among the 10 sectors that make up the S&P 500. JPMorgan Chase led financial stocks lower after its earnings fell short of forecasts.

ANALYST’S TAKE: “Disappointing Chinese data drove another sell-off in Asia today”, said Angus Nicholson at IG in Singapore.

Chipmaker Intel fell 4 percent early Wednesday after reporting earnings and revenue that fell slightly. Dow future were little changed at 16,966.00 and S&P 500 futures fell 0.1 percent to 1,992.40. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.8 percent to 22,411.20 and the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China was almost flat, down 0.1 percent to 3,289.80. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.9 percent to 6,285.05 and Germany’s DAX sagged 1.2 percent to 9,915.41. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1 percent to 5,197.30.

In metals trading, gold rose $14.40 to $1,179.80 an ounce.

BONDS AND CURRENCIES: Bonds edged lower, pushing the yield on the 10-year note up to 2.01 percent from 1.98 percent on Wednesday. Benchmark USA crude lost 26 cents to close at $46.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.1488 while the dollar slipped to 118.71 yen. Brent crude, used to price global oils, rose 35 cents to $50.08.