Stock Market Today: Stocks edge higher as Israel-Iran risks grip markets

Wall Street faces a busy earnings session amid lingering risks tied to Israel's likely response to Iran's weekend missile attack.

Apr 16, 2024 - 18:30

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Stock Market Today: Stocks edge higher as Israel-Iran risks grip markets

Check back for updates throughout the trading day

U.S. equity futures edged higher in early Tuesday trading, following on from the biggest two-day decline on Wall Street since last autumn, as investors continued to track risks tied to Israel's simmering conflict with Iran while navigating a busy session for corporate earnings.

Updated at 8:34 AM EDT

Safe as houses?

Housing starts tumbled last month, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday, with the headline figure falling 14.7% from last year to an annualized rate of 1.321 million units. Permits for new construction were lower as well, falling 4.3% from February to 1.458 million.

Housing starts crashed -14.7% MoM to 1.32 mil in Mar, the lowest since Aug 2023.

Permits issued also fell on the month, down -4.3% MoM, as higher interest rates weigh on real estate activity.#housing (Census Bureau) https://t.co/hkV0UJADuQ pic.twitter.com/q3f37qgHcD— MTS Insights (@MTSInsights) April 16, 2024

Updated at 8:05 AM EDT

Holding the line

UnitedHealth shares powered higher in early Tuesday trading after the health insurance giant held to its full-year profit forecasts despite a big hit tied to a February cyber attack and the ongoing surge in post-Covid medical costs.

UnitedHealth shares were marked 7.5% higher in pre-market trading to indicate an opening bell price of $479.06 each.

Check back for updates throughout the trading day

Stocks closed firmly lower last night, with the S&P 500 falling 1.2% to pull the broadest benchmark of U.S. blue-chip shares below its 50-day moving average, a key Wall Street performance metric typically suggests further pressures over the coming weeks.

Israel's vow to retaliate for Iran's weekend missile strike, which Tehran said was tied to Israel's involvement in an attack on an embassy compound in Syria, has gripped global markets and powered a big move into safe-haven assets such as gold, the dollar and U.S. Treasury bonds.

Wall Street faces a testing session Tuesday as earnings kick-in to high gear and a defensive tenor grips global markets.

The U.S. dollar index in fact was last marked 0.06% higher on the session and closing in on a five-month high at 106.261, with gains also propelled by yesterday's stronger-than-expected reading for March retail sales.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held two formal cabinet meetings over the past 48 hours to discuss Israel's response, but no official word has emerged as to when and how the reply is expected to come.

On Wall Street, focus will likely remain fixed on safe-haven-asset flows and risk appetite, with gold prices holding at $2,370.45 after hitting a record $2,431.29 in late Friday dealing.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields, meanwhile, were marked at 4.649%, while 2-year notes were pegged at 4.949% after briefly flirting with the 5% mark in midday Monday trading.

A host of blue-chip earnings were also released this morning as well, with first-quarter updates from UnitedHealth (UNH) , Bank of America (BAC) , Morgan Stanley (MS) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) .

Analysts forecast first-quarter earnings rising 2.7% from a year earlier to a share-weighted $447.3 billion, with second-quarter profits estimated to improve to $494.7 billion.

The Commerce Department will also publish March housing-starts data at 8:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time, with economists looking for a modest decline in both new construction and building permits.

Heading into the start of the trading day, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 suggest a 5-point opening bell gain, while those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average suggest a 190-point gain. The tech-focused Nasdaq, meanwhile, is priced for a 10-point advance.

More Wall Street Analysts:

In other markets, global oil prices were back in the red, with Brent crude contracts for June delivery marked 39 cents lower at $89.72 per barrel. Investors focused on softer near-term-demand forecasts over the likely supply disruptions tied a broader regional Mideast conflict.

Overseas, last night's selloff on Wall Street rippled through markets in Europe and Asia, with the Stoxx 600 last marked 1.4% lower in early Frankfurt trading and Britain's FTSE 100 down 1.38%.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended 1.94% lower as the yen slumped to a fresh 34-year low of 154.59 against the surging greenback. The regionwide MSCI ex-Japan benchmark fell 2.07% into the close of trading.

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