NEW YORK: Stocks on Wednesday barely managed to extend a winning run, with the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 ending higher for a fourth day as Wall Street adopted a cautious tone.
“We’re seeing a lot of indication that things are not as bad as we thought they were, but the question is, how good are they? We’ve had a pretty strong market rally for simply going from bad to less bad. If it’s actually getting good, then we need to be prepared to put some money to work, but it seems like it is too early,” said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank.
“Will a black hole open up in Europe that will suck the world economy into it? So far we’ve avoided that, but we’re still nervous,” added McCain of underlying market worries.
The Dow climbed 7.04 points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 13,175.64, with 19 of its 30 components gaining, led by Hewlett-Packard Co., up 2.4 percent after the company raised its third-quarter earnings forecast.
McDonald’s Corp. fell 1.7 percent after it reported revenue at restaurants open at least 13 months fell 0.1 percent.
“You get reports like McDonald’s today that reflect overseas weakness,” said McCain of the fast-food chain, the day’s biggest weight among the blue chips.
The S&P 500 index rose less than 1 point to 1,402.22, with consumer staples the best performing and consumer discretionary the worst among its 10 sectors.
Macy’s Inc. shares gained after the department-store chain reported better-than-expected income in its second quarter and raised its 2012 guidance.
The Nasdaq composite index fell 4.61 points to 3,011.25.
Oil prices lost 32 cents to end at $93.35 a barrel in New York.
Treasury prices fell after the government sold $24 billion in 10-year notes.
The bottom line, wrote Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak, is that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi “ended the U.S. Treasury rally dead in its tracks on July 26 when he temporarily calmed markets ... ’’
