Wall Street held steady on Tuesday with a slight advance, driven by a rise in defensive stocks and surprising news from Walt Disney. The Dow 30 component delivered a profit in its streaming business, catching the attention of investors.
Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari also made comments on the recent jobs report, calling it “softer than expected but not soft” and indicating that the central bank was prepared to hike interest rates if necessary.
In mid-day trade, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.23% to 16,387.37 points, the S&P 500 added 0.29% to 5,195.99 points, and the Dow was up 0.08% to 38,882.95 points. Defensive sectors like Real Estate and Materials saw gains of more than 1%.
Treasury yields were lower, with the 30-year and 10-year yields down 5 basis points each, and the 2-year yield down 2 basis points. Markets are coming off a positive session on Monday, following a two-week win streak.
GlobalFoundries provided support to the Nasdaq Composite after mentioning that some parts of the semiconductor industry were recovering from inventory correction. However, Datadog saw a slump despite strong results, and Disney’s stock dropped around 10% due to a decline in revenue from traditional television businesses, overshadowing the profit from its streaming platform.
Apple also made headlines with the unveiling of new iPads and an artificial intelligence focused chip. Overall, market sentiment remains positive, with investors keeping a close eye on developments in various sectors.
