ocks are hardly budging Thursday morning after big gains over the last two days. Banks and chemicals companies are down. However, retailers, which have been pummeled in recent weeks, traded higher after a group of strong earnings reports.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 2 points to 17,849 as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index held steady at 2,090. The Nasdaq composite index rose less than 1 point to 4,895. Stocks have climbed over the last two days and are trading close to their highest prices in 2016.
TURNING AROUND: Banks and chemical companies, which made some of the biggest gains Wednesday, traded lower. Monsanto, which has jumped on talks about a potential sale to Bayer, fell 70 cents to $110.98. Dow Chemical slipped 14 cents to $52.72.
Banks went down along with bond yields. Citigroup slid 58 cents, or 1.2%, to $46.36 and Citizens Financial declined 27 cents, or 1.1%, to $23.42. Bond prices rose and the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.85% from 1.87%.
OIL RALLY: U.S. crude rose 23 cents to $49.80 a barrel in New York and Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, rose 18 cents to $49.92 a barrel in London. Oil prices are at their highest level since October and U.S. crude is near $50 a barrel, a level it hasn't surpassed since July.
RETAIL GAINS: Department store Sears jumped after it said it was looking at options for its Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard and Sears Home Services businesses. Those options could include partnerships or deals that would expand distribution of its products, getting them into more stores outside Sears and Kmart locations. Sears rose 71 cents, or 5.7%, to $13.23.
Discount retailer Dollar Tree raised its forecasts for the year after it reported first-quarter results. The stock climbed $7.84, or 10%, to $86.20.
Retailers have tumbled in recent weeks on weak earnings reports. Among other problems, shoppers aren't spending as much on clothes and the strong dollar is hurting profits and sales overseas.
However, on Thursday, PVH, the owner of the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands raised its profit forecasts for the year after it reported strong quarterly results. PVH also said the strong dollar wouldn't hurt its results as much as it previously expected. Its stock advanced $5.06, or 5.6%, to $94.89.
Wholesale club operator Costco rose $7.50, or 5.2%, to $152.04 after making its quarterly report.
HP UP: Personal computer and printer maker HP Inc. reported a bigger profit than analysts had forecast, and it gave a solid outlook for the year. The stock climbed 66 cents, or 5.4%, to $12.86.
U.S. ECONOMY: The government said new applications for unemployment benefits fell to 268,000 last week. Applications are a proxy for layoffs, so the decline suggests companies feel comfortable enough to hold on to their workers.
A separate report showed that orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose in April. However, that was mostly because of an increase in commercial aircraft sales, and those sales can rise or fall by a lot from month to month. A measurement of business investment fell for the third month in a row, signaling that manufacturing is still under pressure.
OVERSEAS: France's CAC rose 0.3% and Germany's DAX continued its rapid ascent, climbing 0.4%. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.3%. Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained nearly 0.1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged up 0.1%.
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Abe to Delay Putting Japan’s Sales Tax Increase Into Effect
rime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan announced on Wednesday that he would delay an unpopular increase in the national sales tax, in what amounted to an acknowledgment that the country’s economy remained worryingly fragile.
The decision, which was widely expected, was informed by painful experience: After Mr. Abe allowed a tax increase to go ahead in 2014, consumer spending dried up and Japan fell into recession. It was a serious setback for a leader who had won office on a promise to turn around Japan’s long-struggling economy.
Mr. Abe’s handling of the economy remains a contentious issue. Despite more than three years of sustained stimulus, the robust increase in wages and prices that he promised has failed to materialize. The governing Liberal Democratic Party and its smaller ally, Komeito, face an election for the upper house of Parliament next month, adding to the pressure.
Mr. Abe defended his economic record on Wednesday, saying that although it was still “a work in progress,” certain areas, like the unemployment rate and the frequency of corporate bankruptcies, had improved substantially. He blamed a weaker global economy — in particular the slowdown in China — for what he said was a growing threat to Japan.
“At worst, there’s a risk that we could return to the long tunnel of deflation,” he said. “We need to take action to guard against risks.”
Mr. Abe said he would delay the planned increase of two percentage points in the sales tax, known in Japan as a consumption tax, by two and a half years, to October 2019.
Higher taxes have never been a natural fit for Mr. Abe, whose economic agenda has focused more on encouraging growth than fighting deficits. The plan for a higher sales tax was passed into law by a previous government, and the prime minister has struggled with how to put it into effect.
Japan has the highest government debt in the world, equal to nearly two and a half years’ worth of economic output. But Mr. Abe and his supporters say that trying to close deficits by increasing tax rates or cutting government spending risks damaging the economy.
Oil prices were down slightly on Wednesday, erasing most of the day's losses after OPEC sources said the group was likely to consider a new output ceiling at its forthcoming meeting.
Reuters cited four OPEC sources as saying the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was likely to consider a production cap at its Thursday meeting. Three sources said the ceiling needs to be set substantially above 30 million barrels per day, and lengthy discussions may be required.
If agreed, the decision would represent a major compromise for OPEC, which failed to agree on an output ceiling for the first time in years at its last meeting in December.
Many market participants remain doubtful there will be such a deal since Iran, a key OPEC member, is determined to restore crude exports to pre-sanction levels. Analysts instead expect OPEC members to focus on defending individual market share.
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