U.S. stocks are recovering from an historic two-day selloff following the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union.
Investors seem to have high hopes that Prime Minister David Cameron’s trip Wednesday to the EU leader summit will answer some of the questions swirling about the implementation of Article 50. There is also a belief the central banks will coordinate an effort to intervene in the markets.
Asia closed mostly in positive territory with China and Japan slightly higher, while Hong Kong was only down 0.3 percent. Europe was mostly trading higher by midday, with the French CAC up 2.7 percent, the U.K. FTSE adding 2.5 percent and the German DAX up 2.2 percent.
U.S. stocks are following Europe higher with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by 145 points to 17,287, the S&P 500 is higher by 18 points to 2,018 and the Nasdaq is up by 54 points to trade at 4,648. The Retail ETF is gaining 46 cents to sell at $40.63. Crude oil is up almost 3 percent to $47.63 and gold is slightly lower at $1,321 an ounce.
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The market received the third revision for first-quarter gross domestic product and it was moved higher to 1.1 percent from 0.8 percent, which beat the Briefing.com consensus for 1.0 percent.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Tunick is cutting his price target for Signet Jewelers Limited to $120 from $140. Tunick cited multiple headwinds including Brexit, slowing mall traffic and negative headlines surrounding stories of diamond-swapping. Signet had said it was considering selling its in-house credit business, but there seems to be some controversy as to whether it makes sense. Tunick also expressed some concern about slowing jewelry sales in general. This morning Signet’s shares were up by almost 3 percent to trade at $81.61.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. is higher by 2.8 percent to sell at $41.21 as the retail chain makes a move to bid on 17 Sports Authority stores. If Dick’s wins the bid, the company will become the largest sporting goods retailer in the U.S. with over 600 stores. Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy, but instead of just restructuring, the firm decided to liquidate. Sports Authority put 320 of its stores up for sale and the bids were due last Thursday.
Amazon is rolling out another 50 new brands to its Dash Button program. Amazon said the Dash Button orders have grown by 70 percent with order frequency doubling. Customers use Dash Buttons for items they buy with regularity and receive the items with free shipping. The new brands include Nerf and Play-Doh toys. Amazon stock is gaining 1 percent to trade at $700.