U.S. Tech Stocks and China Rate Cut Power Global Rally

Nichole Harper
23 Oct, 2015
New York City

Tech stocks powered rally on Wall Street and the market move was amplified after China offered a rate cut ahead of a meeting of senior leaders in Beijing. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and American Airlines reported better-than-expected earnings.

[R][2:10 PM New York City, New York – Tech stocks powered rally on Wall Street and the market move was amplified after China offered a rate cut ahead of a meeting of senior leaders in Beijing. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and American Airlines reported better-than-expected earnings.[/R]

Tech stocks rally on Wall Street was amplified after China lowered rates.

Stocks opened higher in New York after Microsoft, parent of Google, Amazon and American Airlines reported higher earnings.

Market index rally also got another boost after the second-largest economy in the world lowered its reference rate by 25 basis points to 4.35% and one-year deposit rate by the same amount to 1.5%.

China has been struggling to hold on to its 7%-plus economic growth rate and the growth is expected to fall below that mark, 25-year low.

On Wall Street, Tollbooth Strategy Index jumped 105.73 or 0.9% to 10,860.14.

S&P 500 index gained 17.64 or 0.9% to 2,070.19 and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 100.25 or 2% to 5,091.94.

Crude oil in New York slid 0.80 cents to $44.58 a barrel and gold fell $3.80 to $1,162.25 an ounce.

U.S. Movers

Alphabet Inc ((GOOG)) soared 8.6% or $55.88 to $707.67 after the search engine services provider said revenues in the third-quarter ending in September surged 13% from a year ago to $18.68 billion.

Net income in the quarter surged 45.3% to $3.98 billion or $5.73 per diluted share compared to $2.74 billion or $3.98 from the same quarter last year.

In the fourth quarter, Alphabet plans to buy back approx $5.1 billion in Class C stock.

Amazon.com, Inc ((AMZN)) surged 6.7% or $37.50 to $601.38 after the online market place reported revenues in the third-quarter ending in September jumped 23.2% from a year ago to $25.36 billion.

Net in the quarter swung to profit $79 million or 17 cents per diluted share compared to a loss of $437 million or 95 cents from the same quarter last year.

Microsoft Corporation ((MSFT)) soared 10.3% or $4.96 to $52.99 after the software services provider reported total revenues in the first-quarter ending in September slumped 12% from a year ago to $20.4 billion.

Net income in the quarter rose 1.8% to $4.62 billion or 57 cents per diluted share compared to $4.54 billion or 54 cents from the same quarter last year.

Procter & Gamble Co ((PG)) increased 2.7% or $2.03 to $76.87 after the consumer packaged goods maker reported said net sales in the third-quarter ending in September plunged 12% from a year ago to $16.53 billion.

Net income in the quarter soared 31% to $2.60 billion or 91 cents per diluted share compared to $1.99 billion or 69 cents from the same quarter last year.

United Continental Holdings Inc ((UAL)) increased 3.5% or $1.98 to $58.02 after the airline company said revenues in the third-quarter ending in September decreased 2% from a year ago to $10.31 billion.

Net income in the quarter surged to $4.82 billion or $12.82 per diluted share compared to $924 million or $2.37 from the same quarter last year.

European Markets

In London trading, FTSE 100 index increased 74.25 or 1.2% to 6,385.15 and in Frankfurt the DAX index surged 341.59 or 3.3% to 10,835.86.

In Paris, CAC 40 index jumped 129.02 or 2.7% to 4,931.20.

For the week, FTSE 100 index increased 1.1% and the DAX index surged 7.2% and the CAC 40 index soared 4.9%.

Ericsson plunged 5.5% to 77.35 Swedish kronor after the wireless communication equipment maker reported net sales in the third-quarter ending in September increased 3% from a year ago to 59.2 billion kronor.

Net income in the quarter surged 19% from a year ago to 3.1 billion kronors compared to 2.6 billion kronor and diluted earnings per share rose to 0.94 kronor from 0.81 kronor.

The company said sales growth remained strong in India, South East Asia and Oceania while sales declined in North East Asia and Northern Europe and Central Asia.

However, the mobile broadband business in North America fell from a year ago period and sales slowed down considerably in China as the rollout of 4G appears to have peaked in China.

Comparable network unit sales plunged 15% from a year ago quarter in all regions of the world except in India and South East Asia.

Total sales of 59.2 billion kronor were below expectations of 60.9 billion kronor and gross margins were 33.9%, lower than consensus estimate of 34.9%.

Asian Markets

Nikkei average shot up near 2-month high and the yen declined to a one-month low after the European Central Bank chief offered more monetary easing as early as December.

The accommodative stance from the ECB helped market to ease tensions and the market indexes shot up in Tokyo trading. Exporters and financials led the gainers.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average jumped 389.43 or 2.1% to 18,825.30 and the broader Topix index increased 29.62 or 1.9% to 1,547.84.

For the week, Nikkei 225 soared 2.9%.

The yen strengthened to 120.39 against a dollar.

Kao Corporation gained 0.8% to 5,868 yen after the cosmetics, skin care and hair care products maker reported net sales in the nine-month ending in September advanced 5.5% from a year ago to 1.06 trillion yen.

Net income in the period surged 34.6% to 68.20 billion yen compared to 50.67 billion yen and earnings per share increased to 136.04 yen from 99.12 yen.

The company forecasted net sales for the year to jump 4.9% to 1.47 trillion yen and net income to soar 14.3% to 91 billion yen.

Sensex in Mumbai traded higher after reached above 2-month high after the indexes jumped for the fourth week in a row.

Market sentiment was also bolstered after the European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi showed willingness to cut rates more to prop up the economy.

Rupee strengthened 30 paisa to 64.82 against one U.S. dollar.

The Sensex Index advanced 183.15 or 0.7% to close at 27,470.81 The CNX Nifty fell 43.75 or 0.5% to 8,295.45.

For the week, Sensex Index increased 1.7% and CNX Nifty gained 1.4%.

According to the latest data from the stock exchanges, foreign investors were net sellers of stocks and sold ₹48.33 crore of stocks in Wednesday trading.

Wipro, third largest software exporters from India said quarterly net and revenues rose 7%.

Symphony, fast growing home appliances maker said net surged 30%, the maker of generic pharmaceuticals Cadila said revenues soared 12%.

Idea Cellular, third largest wireless communications services provider said profit slipped 13%.