US close: Stocks end higher despite another CPI miss
Stocks ended slightly higher going into the weekend despite inflation data for September that came in shy of market estimates for a sixth month out of seven.
By the closing bell, the Dow Industrials had edged higher by 0.13% or 30.71 points to 22,871.72, with the S&P 500 up by 0.09% or 2.24 points to 2,553.17 alongside it and the Nasdaq Composite adding 0.22% or 14.29 points to trade at 6,605.80.
In parallel, front month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were trading higher by 72 cents to $51.45 a barrel on the NYMEX.
From a sector standpoint, the best performing areas of the market were: Iron&Steel (2.10%), Industrial metals (1.79%) and Non-ferrous metals (1.65%).
To take note of, investors were also digesting president Donald Trump's decision not to certify that Iran was complying with the 2015 nuclear arms deal, opting instead to pursue measures to strengthen it.
Back on the economic front, headline consumer prices in the US picked up to a 2.2% clip year-on-year in September, according to the Department of Labor, versus the 2.3% gain economists had penciled-in on the back of the expected impact from hurricanes Harvey and Irma. That was despite a 6.1% surge in energy costs when compared with the previous month.
So-called 'core' inflation also missed projections for an advance of 1.8%, increasing instead at a 1.7% pace, the same as last month.
Friday's weak reading on inflation saw the yield on the benchmark 10-year US government bond fall five basis points to 2.27%.
Commenting on the possible implications of Friday's CPI data, analysts at Barclays Research said: "We see softness in core CPI as driven by core goods, where deflation has become even more pronounced in recent months, while the momentum in core services seems to be turning around tentatively.
"While the core CPI data were softer than expected, we still believe the FOMC will want to leave the door open for a December hike and signal that it will continue to monitor the inflation data closely in the months preceding the meeting."
Retail sales volumes on the other hand jumped 1.6% month-on-month in September to reach $483.9bn, according to the Department of Commerce, bang in line with forecasts.
For his part, following the September CPI numbers Chicago Fed chief Charles Evans told Bloomberg TV that: "In a lot of our inflation forecasts right now, there’s still a lot of hope [...] It would be nice if we had more confirmation that inflation was going to pick up."
Also of interest, Boston Fed chief Eric Rosengren said that whomever took over at the helm of the US central bank, he or she would have to work with the rest of the Committee. So while change in the Federal Reserve's handling of monetary policy might happen, it would probably evolve relatively slowly.
In other Fedspeak, Dallas Fed boss Robert Kaplan reportedly said that inflationary pressures were building but were being offset.
On the corporate side of things, Bank of America posted weaker than expected top line growth for the third quarter due to a sharp fall in sales and trading revenues at its Global Markets arm. Yet shares in the lender advanced as the results showed that the remainder of the lender's business lines performed well.
Stock in Wells Fargo & Co. on the other hand slipped as its top line fell short of analysts' estimates, shrinking 2% to $21.9bn.
Dow Jones - Risers
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $93.04 1.73%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $130.73 1.64%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $165.37 1.36%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $39.67 1.22%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $86.62 1.04%
American Express Co. (AXP) $92.86 0.98%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $118.85 0.93%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $126.64 0.84%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $156.99 0.63%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $33.47 0.63%
Dow Jones - Fallers
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $47.86 -2.05%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $238.53 -1.60%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $192.60 -1.40%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $97.38 -1.19%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $95.86 -1.01%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $63.39 -0.61%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $164.47 -0.47%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $147.15 -0.35%
General Electric Co. (GE) $22.98 -0.30%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $36.35 -0.30%
S&P 500 - Risers
United States Steel Corp. (X) $27.36 8.57%
HP Inc (HPQ) $21.71 6.37%
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $26.00 5.82%
XL Group Ltd (XL) $41.54 5.49%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $36.80 5.41%
W.W. Grainger Inc. (GWW) $181.05 4.96%
Alliance Data Systems Corp. (ADS) $231.02 4.94%
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $326.49 4.82%
Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (HST) $19.54 4.66%
Mosaic Company (MOS) $21.77 3.22%
S&P 500 - Fallers
PG&E Corp. (PCG) $57.72 -16.53%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $13.15 -9.31%
Mallinckrodt Plc Ordinary Shares (MNK) $33.29 -6.72%
AT&T Inc. (T) $35.71 -6.52%
Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) $60.00 -6.37%
Centene Corp. (CNC) $90.69 -5.58%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $27.24 -4.15%
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $104.01 -4.01%
Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) $25.81 -3.91%
Citigroup Inc. (C) $72.13 -3.78%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Viacom Inc. Class B (VIAB) $26.00 5.82%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $198.58 4.43%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $279.65 2.90%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $73.57 2.54%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $87.80 2.38%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $34.40 2.32%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $194.59 1.86%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $199.49 1.85%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $159.85 1.67%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $189.90 1.56%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) $104.01 -4.01%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $67.56 -2.09%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $61.08 -1.56%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $136.46 -1.47%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $52.83 -1.40%
Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $159.60 -1.34%
Dish Network Corp. (DISH) $48.38 -1.33%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $63.75 -1.04%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $442.96 -0.94%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $57.14 -0.92%