A gauge of world stocks edged higher yesterday, buoyed by gains in Amazon as yields on US Treasuries dipped for a second straight day in the wake of data on the strength of the economy.
US stocks were unable to hold initial gains and held near the unchanged mark. After rising nearly 8 per cent, Amazon.com Inc shares pulled back and were last up 4.85 per cent after its quarterly earnings report.
The energy sector, off 1.23 per cent, was weighed down by a 3.49-per cent drop in Exxon Mobil Corp. The world’s largest publicly traded oil producer posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit as weakness in its chemical and refining operations offset a boost from higher crude prices.
“The market is a little hesitant after a very strong day in response to some earnings that were taken quite positively,” said Andre Bakhos, managing director at New Vines Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
US stocks had rallied on Thursday, with each of the major Wall Street indexes climbing more than 1 per cent with strong gains in tech shares. Still, the S&P 500 was on track for a modest weekly decline.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 49.15 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 24,273.19, the S&P 500 gained 0.19 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 2,667.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.29 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 7,119.96.
European shares pulled back from earlier highs but were still on track for their fifth straight weekly climb.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.08 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.22 per cent.
Yields on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield declined for a second straight day after hitting a four-year high earlier in the week.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 9/32 in price to yield 2.9587 per cent, from 2.99 per cent late on Thursday.
But the margin between US shorter-dated Treasury yields and longer-dated ones shrank as a smaller-than-expected decline in domestic economic growth in the first quarter renewed bets the Federal Reserve would stick to its rate-hike campaign to keep inflation in check.
The US economy slowed in the first quarter to a 2.3 per cent annual rate as consumer spending grew at its weakest pace in nearly five years, but the setback is likely temporary against the backdrop of a tightening labour market and large fiscal stimulus.