By Saumya Vaishampayan
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose Wednesday, boosted by
stronger-than-expected results at Walt Disney Co.
The Dow gained 61 points, or 0.4%, to 17727.
Walt Disney's shares rallied 8.2% and contributed about 49
points to the Dow's overall gain. The Dow is a price-weighted index
which tends to be influenced by pricier components such as
Disney.
Action was muted on other indexes. The S&P 500 was nearly
flat at 2050, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added three points,
or 0.1%, to 4730.
Wednesday's trading marked a continuation of choppy price action
in the stock market. The Dow has moved by more than 1% in either
direction in the six sessions ended Tuesday.
Traders said stock moves in recent weeks have been driven by
bets on indexes rather than on individual stocks. That comes amid
an increased focus on moves in oil prices and political
developments overseas, such as the new Greek government's talks
with its creditors, that are overshadowing fourth-quarter earnings,
they said.
"It seems like there's an inordinate amount of uncertainty in
the world, " said Michael Fredericks, portfolio manager of the
BlackRock Multi-Asset Income Fund, which has $10.2 billion under
management. "It's hard to have a lot of conviction."
Crude-oil futures fell 5.1% to $50.37 a barrel, following four
straight sessions of gains. Energy stocks on the S&P 500 fell
1.2%, marking the biggest sector decline.
"We're in a period where the market is really thrashing around,"
said Jeff Morris, head of U.S. equities at Standard Life
Investments. "It has to do a balancing act between those portions
of the U.S. economy showing genuine strength and recovery and
international influences," such as global growth concerns, he
added.
Investors continued to watch international developments,
especially in Greece. Greece's new leaders are trying to reach an
agreement about the country's hefty debt pile. Greek Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras said Wednesday his discussions with European Union
leaders were headed in a good direction, though one of the bloc's
top officials warned that negotiations would still be tough.
European stocks rose, with France's CAC 40 up 0.4% and Germany's
DAX 30 gaining 0.2%.
China's central bank on Wednesday cut the amount of deposits set
aside by commercial banks in case of financial trouble, taking a
major step to boost bank lending. The move is part of a continued
effort to kick-start growth.
Back in the U.S., consumer discretionary stocks rose the most on
the S&P 500, up 0.9%.
Health-care stocks on the S&P 500 fell 1%. Merck & Co.
said its sales fell in the fourth quarter as a stronger U.S. dollar
and patent expirations weighed on results. Shares fell 3.6%.
In other corporate news, General Motors Co. said fourth-quarter
profit surged 91%, beating analyst expectations. The company said
it plans to boost its dividend starting in the second quarter.
Shares rose 4.6%.
Staples Inc. agreed to buy Office Depot Inc. for $6.3 billion .
The two companies have roughly 4,000 stores and they projected
annual sales of more than $39 billion. Shares of Staples fell 10%,
while those of Office Depot rose 1.8%.
In economic news, private payrolls increased by 213,000 in
January, according to a report compiled by payroll processor
Automatic Data Processing Inc. and forecasting firm Moody's
Analytics. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had
expected payrolls to increase by 240,000.
Still, the overall employment trend remains positive, investors
said.
"The economy is expanding, the private sector is adding jobs,
and that's good news" for stocks, said Matthew Kaufler, who
oversees about $2 billion as a portfolio manager at Federated
Investors. "With the economy on firmer footing, inflation
expectations subdued, corporations returning capital aggressively
to shareholders, those all point to an attractive environment for
equities," he added.
The ADP report is often viewed as an indicator for Friday's
closely watched jobs report, which is expected to show the economy
added 237,000 jobs in January, according to economists surveyed by
The Wall Street Journal.
In other markets, gold futures rose 0.4% to $1265.00 an
ounce.
Treasury prices fell, pushing the yield on the 10-year note up
to 1.822% from 1.781% on Tuesday.
Write to Saumya Vaishampayan at saumya.vaishampayan@wsj.com
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