Stock market news live: Stocks close at records after strong data, earnings – Yahoo Finance

“Trade truce is not the same as trade peace,” she said, adding that “much more work is ahead to heal the fractures between the world’s two largest economies.”

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11:44 a.m. ET: Walmart reportedly shakes up executive team after holidays

Retail giant Walmart (WMT) is changing up its C-suite in the wake of the holiday season, according to reports from CNBC and the Wall Street Journal.

Chief merchant Steve Bratspies is poised to depart, both outlets reported Friday, citing an internal memo sent to staff. Bratspie will reportedly be replaced by Scott McCall, who leads Walmart’s entertainment and toys business.

Walmart is also tapping Dacona Smith to become chief operating officer, the memo reportedly said. Smith previously served in this role at Walmart’s Sam’s Club unit.

Shares of Walmart were off 0.73% to $115.05 each.

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10:15 a.m. ET: Google’s stock keeps climbing, sets new record

Alphabet-owned tech giant Google (GOOG) continued its push into the $1 trillion club of most valuable U.S. companies, with the stock setting a new record high at $1468.99 shortly after Friday’s opening bell. The backdrop to all of this is a tech sector that shows little signs of having its dominance eroded by widespread privacy concerns and regulatory probes.

It’s also a vote of confidence in CEO Sundar Pichai, who took the reins of Alphabet after founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin relinquished control of the tech giant last month.

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10:00 a.m. ET: Consumer sentiment ticked down slightly in January, University of Michigan survey says

Consumer sentiment unexpectedly edged down to a reading of 99.1 in January, according to the University of Michigan’s preliminary monthly print for its survey of consumers.

Consensus economists had expected the headline print to hold at 99.3 for the month, matching December’s reading, according to Bloomberg data. The reading, however, still held relatively close to 2019’s recent high of 100.0 from May.

A subindex capturing surveyed individuals’ future expectations also fell, touching 88.3 for January from 88.9 in December.

However, the survey’s measure of consumers’ assessments about current conditions unexpectedly rose in January, coming in at 115.8 from 115.5 in December. Consensus economists expected this to decrease to 115.3.

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9:35 a.m. ET: S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq hit fresh record highs

The three major indices each hit fresh record highs around market open, buoyed by strong data on the housing market and corporate earnings results.

Here were the main moves in markets, as of 9:35 a.m. ET:

• S&P 500 (^GSPC): +0.16% or +5.47 points to 3,322.28

• Dow (^DJI): +0.12% or +34.57 points to 29,332.21

• Nasdaq (^IXIC): +0.23% or +21.97 points to 9,379.16

• Crude oil (CL=F): +0.31% or +$0.18 to $58.70 a barrel

• Gold (GC=F): +0.43% or +$6.60 to $1,557.10 per ounce

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9:10 a.m. ET: Housing starts data ‘spectacular but clearly unsustainable,’ economist says

December’s incredible jump in new-home building will be hard to replicate, at least one analyst said after the data release.

“In one line: Spectacular but clearly unsustainable,” Ian Shepherdson, chief economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics, said of the December housing starts data release.

“The much warmer-than-usual December weather likely boosted activity, but these are nonetheless very startling numbers, which will lift forecasts for Q4 residential investment,” he said. “But activity can’t be sustained at this level, and a hefty correction in January is a good bet. The permits numbers are a better guide to the underlying picture because they are much less weather-sensitive, and the December numbers are a bit disappointing.”

He noted, however, that the overall trend in the housing market is still pointing higher, especially in an environment of low rates and solid confidence among home-builders.

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8:30 a.m. ET: Housing starts surged to a 13-year high in December

New-home building ended the year on strong footing, with housing starts in December jumping 16.9% month on month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.608 million. This was well above the consensus expectation for a rise of 1.1% to just 1.38 million starts for the month, according to Bloomberg data.

November’s housing starts were also upwardly revised to 1.375 million, from 1.365 million previously.

December’s gain was driven by a 29.8% leap in the more volatile multi-family building category, which includes apartments and condos. Those rose 29.8% for the month to the highest level since 1986. Single-family housing starts, which comprise the larger share of the housing market, rose 11.2% for the month.

Building permits, on the other hand, fell more than expected to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.416 million. This marked a 3.9% decline from November, steeper than the 1.5% decline to 1.46 million expected. Building permits are seen as a proxy for future home-building. However,

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7:50 a.m. ET: Schlumberger shares rise after earnings beat

Oilfield services provider Schlumberger (SLB) posted stronger than expected fourth-quarter results, with adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 39 cents on revenue of $8.23 billion ahead of consensus estimates for adjusted EPS of 35 cents on revenue of $8.14 billion. Shares rose 2.6% in early trading.

However, the company’s North American revenues fell 13% over last year in the fourth quarter to $2.45 billion. Schlumberger signaled it would continue to pare back its North American business amid falling demand from shale producers.

As one of the world’s largest oilfield services provider, Schlumberger is often looked to as a bellwether for global energy markets. To that end, Schlumberger CEO Olivier Le Peuch provided mostly upbeat commentary around prospects for the oil market in 2020, according to a statement.

“From a macro perspective, we ended the year with 2020 oil demand growth sentiment turning positive as uncertainty reduced following the progress made toward a US-China trade deal. The fall in the North America production growth estimate of between 400,000 to 800,000 bpd should continue to support the thesis for international investment. The recent escalation of geopolitical risk should set the floor for the oil price going forward. In the near term, we expect the OPEC+ production cuts agreed upon in December 2019 to limit investment and activity, particularly in the Middle East and Russia, during the first half of 2020. As the year progresses, the effect of slowing North America production growth is likely to cause tightness in the market and further stimulate international operators to step up their investments in the second half of the year and beyond.”

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7:32 a.m. ET: Stock futures rise after upbeat China data

Stock futures extended gains in early trading after more upbeat data from China signaled the world’s second largest economy was firming. The S&P 500 and Dow paced to open at record highs.

China’s gross domestic product rose 6% in the fourth quarter of 2019, matching the prior quarter’s pace and matching consensus expectations. This brought full-year 2019 GDP to expand at a pace of 6.1% – a near 30-year low but in-line with the government’s target for annual growth of between 6% to 6.5%.

In further signs of resurgence for the Chinese economy, fixed-asset investment and industrial output also rose strongly in December. And economists are largely banking on a newly signed U.S.-China phase one trade deal to further provide boosts to consumer confidence in the country.

Here were the main moves during the pre-market session, as of 7:32 a.m. ET:

• S&P futures (ES=F): 3,323.25, up 6.75 points or 0.2%

• Dow futures (YM=F): 29,308, up 68 points or 0.23%

• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 9,165.25, up 31.75 points or 0.35%

• Crude oil (CL=F): $58.74 per barrel, up $0.22 or 0.38%

• Gold (GC=F): $1,558.30 per ounce, up $7.80 or 0.5%

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