Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

S&P 500 Nears Record High as Defensive Stocks Shine

Published 20/10/2021, 19:30
Updated 20/10/2021, 19:30
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 advanced Wednesday to close in on record highs, with defensive corners of the market such as utilities and health care leading the broader market advance.

The S&P 500 was up 0.64% to trade close to its all-time high of 4,545.85 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4%, or 153 points to close in on its all-time high of 35,669.69. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.10%.

Utilities were up more than 1%, led by United Rentals (NYSE:URI), Jacobs Engineering (NYSE:J) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT).

Health care was pushed by positive quarterly results, with Anthem (NYSE:ANTM) rallying more than 6% after delivering third-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates.

Anthem reported Q3 adjusted earnings per share of $6.79 on revenue of $35.82 billion, compared with analysts' estimates for EPS of $6.37 on revenue of $35.35 billion.

Cigna (NYSE:CI) and Centene (NYSE:CNC) were the other leaders in health care.

Elsewhere on the earnings front, United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) reported better-than-expected adjusted quarterly results, underpinned by an ongoing recovery in international and business travel. Its shares were flat.

In tech, meanwhile, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell more 1% after Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) downgraded the stock following the streaming giant's third-quarter results released late-Tuesday,

Deutsche bank downgraded Netflix to hold from buy, on expectations that a "4Q subscriber beat is already more than priced into the stock."

PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) has reportedly explored a bid for Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) that valued the social media company at about $39 billion, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday. Pinterest jumped 13%, while PayPal fell 6%.

Energy lagged the broader move higher, even as oil prices were boosted by data showing an unexpected fall in weekly U.S. crude stockpiles.

U.S. crude stocks fell by 431,000 barrels for the week ended Oct.17, confounding expectations for a 1.9 million barrel increase.

In others news, Bitcoin eclipsed its prior all-time high of $64,778, as optimism over the outlook on the crypto has been boosted by the launch of the first futures-based bitcion ETF on Tuesday.

Shares of Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Global, Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT), and Marathon Digital were higher. 

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.