Stocks rise as GDP growth beats, Tesla slides

Live4 updates

• Thu, January 25, 2024 at 6:00 PM GMT+2

  Airline stocks rise after FAA says Boeing Max 9 planes can fly following safety checks

  Airline stocks rose on Thursday, buoyed by better than expected quarterly results, and clearance from aviation regulators for Boeing 737 Max 9 aircrafts to return to service once each of them is inspected.

  American Airlines (AAL) stock gained more than 8% after issuing better than expected 2024 guidance Thursday morning.

  Southwest (LUV) shares rose but pared back gains after the carrier posted adjusted earnings of $0.37 per share versus Wall Street estimates for $0.12 per share.

  Alaska Airlines (ALK) stock rose despite a financial hit of $150 million stemming from the grounding of its Boeing 737 Max 9 planes after a mid-air incident involving a door plug earlier this month.

  On Wednesday the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved an inspection and maintenance process that must be performed on each of the grounded Boeing 737-9 MAX aircrafts.

  “Upon successful completion, the aircraft will be eligible to return to service,” read the FAA statement.

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  Thu, January 25, 2024 at 5:15 PM GMT+2

  Oil rallies after strong US economic growth reading

  Oil futures rose on Thursday morning following the release of a hotter-than-expected US economic growth print.

  West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) gained more than 1% to cross $76 a barrel level. Brent (BZ=F), the international benchmark price, rose more than 1%, surpassing $81 per barrel.

  Prices rose to session highs after an advance GDP reading showed the US economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.3%, beating economist estimates for growth of 2.2%.

  Oil futures continued their gains from the prior session following the release of US stockpiles, which showed a large drop last week.

  US production also declined by 1 million barrels per day last week amid freezing temperatures across oil-producing states, according to the latest Energy Information Administration data.

  Government data also shows refineries were impacted by freezing temperatures, operating at 85.5% capacity last week.

• 

  Thu, January 25, 2024 at 4:33 PM GMT+2

  US stocks rise amid hotter than expected US economic growth print

  Equities opened higher Thursday after a preliminary economic growth reading in the US came in hotter than expected.

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was up 0.3%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) opened 0.4% higher following the benchmark’s fourth straight record close logged on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.4%.

  An advance estimate of fourth quarter US gross domestic product (GDP) showed the economy grew at an annualized pace of 3.3% during the period, much hotter than the annualized pace of 2% expected by economists.

  Equities rose despite a downbeat earnings release from Tesla (TSLA) on Wednesday. The EV giant missed on profit in its latest quarter and warned of “notably” slower production growth. Tesla shares fell about 7% on Thursday morning.

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  Thu, January 25, 2024 at 3:34 PM GMT+2

  US economy grows at 3.3% rate in Q4, topping estimates

  The US economy continues to impress.

  The first look at fourth quarter GDP growth released Thursday showed the economy grew at an annualized pace of 3.3% in the final three months of 2023. Economists had expected growth to come in at a rate of 2%, according to data from Bloomberg.

  With this reading, the initial estimate on cumulative GDP growth for 2023 shows the economy grew 2.5% last year, an acceleration from the 1.9% growth seen in 2022. The economy grew in all four quarters of the year and has now expanded for six quarters in a row.

  In its release, the BEA said the fourth quarter’s growth was driven by “increases in consumer spending, exports, state and local government spending, nonresidential fixed investment, federal government spending, private inventory investment, and residential fixed investment.”