Stocks are drifting near their record heights on Wall Street, while the price of gold falls again to trim more off its tremendous gain for the year.
Stocks are drifting near their record heights on Wall Street Wednesday, while the price of gold falls again to trim more off its tremendous gain for the year.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% in morning trading and is sitting just underneath its all-time high, which was set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 99 points, or 0.2%, coming off its own record. The Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time.
Bank stocks were holding relatively steady after Capital One Financial, Western Alliance Bancorp and others reported stronger profits for the summer than analysts expected. The report from Western Alliance was particularly welcome after it helped shake confidence in the industry last week. It’s one of several banks that have warned of potentially bad loans on its books, possibly because of fraud.
Intuitive Surgical, which sells robotic-assisted surgical systems, jumped 16.3%, and Boston Scientific climbed 4.2% after they likewise reported better profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
It’s usually the case that the majority of companies deliver better profits each quarter than analysts had forecast.
