U.S. Stocks Advance on Bank Earnings, Energy Deal: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) --

U.S. stocks rose amid solid bank earnings and a major deal in the energy sector, while Treasuries fell as Chinese data bolstered optimism in the global economy.

The S&P 500 gained for a third straight week as it punched through the key 2,900 level for the first time in six months. JPMorgan Chase & Co. surged on a strong first-quarter report, while Walt Disney Co. jumped to a record after it announced a new streaming service, sinking Netflix Inc.’s shares.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. soared along with shares in its competitors after Chevron agreed to buy the energy producer. Chevron slumped. Health-insurer stocks slid for a second day as policy makers in Washington spared over proposals that threatened to disrupt their businesses, weighing on the Nasdaq indexes.

The 10-year Treasury yield pushed to the highest level in nearly a month, while the dollar gave back Thursday’s gains after China’s trade and lending signaled that the world’s second-largest economy is on more stable footing.

“We’ll see financials move today because of the bank earnings, but a lot of other sectors we probably won’t see much action in,” Michael O’Rourke, JonesTrading’s chief market strategist, said by phone. “Today seems more like a lot of the past two weeks where you just have a lot of sideways action with a slight upward bias.”

The rally in equities since late December had been struggling for momentum over the last week amid renewed trade tensions and reports of slowing global growth. Earnings and Chinese data Friday helped to ease some of those concerns. Traders will now be looking to companies to provide the next kicker as the reporting season in the U.S. gathers pace.

Elsewhere, the pound rose after Prime Minister Theresa May accepted the European Union’s offer to push the Brexit deadline out to October.

These are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 Index increased 0.7 percent as of 4 p.m. New York time.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 percent.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.2 percent.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.2 percent.
• The MSCI Emerging Market Index added 0.3 percent.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.1 percent to the lowest in more than two weeks.
• The euro advanced 0.4 percent to 1.1296.
• The Japanese yen fell 0.4 percent to 112.09 per dollar.
• The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index rose 0.1 percent.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose six basis points to 2.55 percent.
• Germany’s 10-year yield gained six basis points to 0.055 percent.
• Britain’s 10-year yield rose six basis points to 1.212 percent.

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4 percent to $63.86 a barrel.
• Gold gained 0.1 percent to 1,294.30.
• Copper climbed 1.8 percent to $2.93 a pound.

--With assistance from Vildana Hajric and Todd White.

To contact the reporters on this story: Randall Jensen in New York at rjensen18@bloomberg.net;Sarah Ponczek in New York at sponczek2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net;Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net

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