US blue chip stocks hit highest level since July

Tuesday, 19 Apr 2016 07:12:39 | Sue Lannin

Toy maker Hasbro led gains after strong sales of Star Wars toys. (Brendan McDermid: Reuters)

US investors ignored yesterday's plunge in oil prices as company profit reports lifted stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 18,000 points, its highest level since July.

The blue chip index gained 0.6 per cent, or 107 points, to 18,004.

The Nasdaq rose 22 points to 4,961, and the S&P 500 increased 13 points to 2,094.

Hasbro rose more than 5 per cent after its earnings were better than expected because of sales of Star Wars toys.

Walt Disney, which also profits from the toys, gained too.

US bank Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected results even though first quarter net income fell by half to $US1.1 billion.

Internet TV firm Netflix said net income in the first quarter increased to $US27.7 million with sales rising by 24 per cent.

Its shares fell in after hours trade after it forecast weaker international subscriber numbers than predicted by analysts.

Netflix expects to reach 84 million subscribers globally in the second quarter.

IT firm IBM posted lower profits after revenue declined for the fourth year in a row.

First quarter net income dropped 13.5 per cent to $US2 billion.

Across the Atlantic, London's FTSE 100 came off its lows after a slump in energy companies, putting on 10 points to 6,353.

Germany's DAX rose 69 points to 10,120 and the CAC 40 in Paris increased 12 points to 4,507.

In futures trade, the ASX SPI 200 was up 53 points to 5,182.

Oil prices fell again, after major oil producers failed to agree on a production freeze on the weekend.

However, it came off its lows after Kuwait cut production.

West Texas crude oil fell more than 1 per cent to $US39.78 a barrel.

Spot gold was weaker at $US1,232.58 an ounce.

The price of iron ore in China was up $US2.08 to $US60.36 a tonne.

The Australian dollar increased against the greenback to 77.49 US cents, recovering from yesterday's oil-related sell-off.

On the cross rates, it was buying 68.48 euro cents, 84.30 Japanese yen, 54.24 British pence and $NZ1.114.

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