The stock market traded flat in early afternoon trading, after beginning the day with what looked like a nice session for the Nasdaq. Procter & Gamble and Microsoft jumped. Rio Tinto led a group of mining stocks in posting new gains.
Leading growth stocks underperformed.
The Nasdaq composite started with a 1% gain but reversed to a decline and then climbed back by early afternoon to a 0.4% rise. It is still below the 200-day and 50-day moving averages. The composite has fallen nearly 10% from its prior high, with techs off to the worst start of 2022 among the 11 S&P sectors.
The S&P 500 held onto a gain of 0.4%. Small caps lagged, with the Russell 2000 down 0.1% from an earlier loss of 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%.
PG Stock And MSFT Lead Gains In Stock Market
Dow component Procter & Gamble jumped more than 4% after the consumer goods giant topped analysts' estimates with fourth-quarter earnings of $1.66 a share. Sales rose 6% as price increases accounted for half the quarter's revenue growth.
Microsoft also gained, as investors ingested yesterday's news that the software giant plans to buy video game company Activision Blizzard.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) erased all gains from its 58.73 buy point, which is a round-trip sell signal.
U.S. Stock Market Today Overview |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Index | Symbol | Price | Gain/Loss | % Change |
| Dow Jones | (0DJIA) | 35335.99 | -32.48 | -0.09 |
| S&P 500 | (0S&P5) | 4580.13 | +3.02 | +0.07 |
| Nasdaq | (0NDQC ) | 14532.07 | +25.17 | +0.17 |
| Russell 2000 | 206.60 | -1.23 | -0.59 | |
| IBD 50 | 40.01 | -0.72 | -1.77 | |
Last Update: 1:46 PM ET 1/19/2022 |
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Volume fell on the NYSE and Nasdaq compared with the same time on Tuesday.
Crown Holdings jumped 2.4% to enter a buy range after passing a 113.85 buy point off a flat base.
Applied Materials fell 3.5% and triggered a sell signal after dropping more than 7% from the 159.10 buy point.
Rio Tinto Leads Group Of Mining Stocks
The Innovator IBD 50 ETF fell 1.5%.
Ameriprise dropped 5% and was hugging the bottom of its buy range. Ameriprise is featured in this week's Stocks Near A Buy Zone column.
Rio Tinto, an IBD 50 stock, led a pack of mining stocks to gains today. Rio Tinto tacked on 3% and was climbing the back wall of a cup toward a buy point of 83.79.
Bond yields were little changed after four weeks of sharp advances in the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield. It was down 3 basis point to 1.83%. Bond prices, which move in the opposite direction as yields, have been falling as the Fed and other central banks act to remove stimulus and tamp down inflation.
Financials Gain, Reversing Losses
In a turnabout from earlier bank company earnings, Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC) climbed after both reported fourth-quarter earnings. But both stocks pared gains.
Morgan Stanley climbed nearly 3% and regained its 200-day moving average after falling below that line Tuesday. The company beat profit expectations with EPS of $2.01, though revenue of $14.524 billion missed views.
BofA trimmed its gain to 0.7% and escaped falling into a sell area after the bank beat Q4 profit expectations. Earnings climbed 39% to 82 cents a share.
Century Communities slid below its 200-day moving average. Lam Research lunged below its 50-day line.
