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Financial Markets 07/10 09:54
U.S. stocks edged lower in early trading Thursday as Delta Air Lines led a
rally in airline stocks after releasing a solid outlook for the rest of this
year and new government data showed fewer Americans sought unemployment
benefits last week.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%. The benchmark index remains near the record it set
last week after a better-than-expected June jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 55 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:03 a.m.
Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% lower a day after climbing to
an all-time high.
Bond yields were mostly higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was at
4.36%, up from 4.34% late Wednesday.
Delta surged 12%, bringing other airlines along with it, after beating Wall
Street's revenue and profit targets. The Atlanta airline also gave a more
optimistic view for the remaining summer travel season than it had just a
couple months ago.
Delta and other major U.S. carriers had pulled or slashed their forecasts in
the spring, citing macroeconomic uncertainty amid President Donald Trump's
tariff rollouts which had consumers feeling uneasy about spending on travel.
Delta's encouraging report boosted the entire airline sector. United jumped
10.1%, American climbed 7.9% and JetBlue rose 4.8%.
Shares of WK Kellogg climbed more than 30% after Italian candy maker Ferrero
agreed to acquire the cereal company in a deal valued at roughly $3.1 billion.
The transaction includes the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of WK
Kellogg Co.'s portfolio of breakfast cereals across the United States, Canada
and the Caribbean.
In economic news, the Labor Department reported Thursday that applications
for unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, fell last week, remaining in
the historically healthy range they've been in the past couple of years.
It's been a choppy week for the stock market as Wall Street monitors the
latest developments in President Donald Trump's renewed push to use threats of
higher tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. in hopes of securing new trade
agreements with countries around the globe.
Wednesday was initially set as a deadline by Trump for countries to make
deals with the U.S. or face heavy increases in tariffs. But with just two trade
deals announced since April, one with the United Kingdom and one with Vietnam,
the window for negotiations has been extended to Aug. 1.
European stock indexes were mostly higher Thursday following a mixed finish
in Asian markets.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.4 %, weighed down by selling of exporters' shares
amid the yen's appreciation, which cuts profits from exports, and dampened
sentiment because of the lack of progress in the Japan-U.S. trade talks.
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