On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices slightly rose on Thursday, following anemic quarterly business results from several companies, while the larger increase in the Nasdaq index is attributed to a strong jump in Facebook’s stock price.
The Dow Jones strengthened by 13 points, or 0.09 percent, to 15,555 points, while the S&P 500 rose by 0.26 percent, to 1,690 points, and the Nasdaq index by 0.71 percent, to 3,605 points. The rise of the Nasdaq is due to a jump in Facebook’s stock price of over 30 percent, after the social network reported a revenue increase in the second quarter of over 50 percent compared to the same period last year.
On the other hand, weaker-than-expected business results from several industrial giants, such as Caterpillar, did not allow for a stronger rise in the S&P 500 index. So far, about 47 percent of companies in the S&P 500 index have reported their business results, with 68 percent exceeding analysts’ expectations regarding earnings, and 56 percent regarding revenue.
Although the results of most companies exceed analysts’ estimates, stock prices are failing to rise significantly because expectations are very low.
