While you were sleeping: Wall St ends mixed as Netflix rallies 10%

Wall Street was mixed, though trading neared record highs, as a rally in shares of Netflix following better-than-expected earnings offset slides in shares of Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble as their results disappointed.

Netflix surged 10% to a new high after the increase in subscribers in its latest quarter beat analysts' forecasts.

"Netflix is pouring more and more money into making content, and it is directly translating into more subscribers," BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield told Reuters.

"They see a huge opportunity and they are moving as fast as they can to attack it."

At the close of trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 3.79 ponts, or 0.01%, to 26,210.81. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.7% to 7460.29 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.2% to 2839.13..

US Treasuries also rose, pushing yields on the 10-year note two basis points lower to 2.622% from 2.663% on Monday, its highest close since April 2014. 

All three benchmark stock indexes, including the Dow, reached record highs earlier in the day.

"The earnings season is going phenomenally well, and the government shutdown on Friday was reversed yesterday, so we've got the government behind us for the next couple of weeks," Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors, told Bloomberg.

"But the reason the stock market is up is very simply that investors are reflecting on the fact that earnings are much better than expected."

Some earnings fall short
To be sure, not all earnings exceeded expectations, such as the results of Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble, both of which dragged down the Dow, outweighing gains by Travelers and General Electric.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index rose 0.2%. The UK's FTSE 100 index also added 0.2%, Germany's DAX Index gained 0.7% and France's CAC40 Index fell 0.1%.

Meanwhile, shares of France's Carrefour climbed after the world's second-largest retailer said it will invest €2.8 billion in online shopping and formed a partnership with Tencent, a Chinese internet giant, as part of a plan to revamp its business.

Carrefour also plans to cut 2400 jobs in France, it said in a statement.

"We must revamp our model, by simplifying our organisation, opening ourselves up to partnerships, improving our operational efficiency, investing in our growth formats, building an efficient omnichannel model and developing our fresh and organic products offer, notably under the Carrefour brand," Alexandre Bompard, Carrefour's chief executive officer, said in the statement.

The stock closed with a 3.2% gain in Paris.

Shares of Sky rose 2.3% in London after UK antitrust regulators said the broadcaster’s $US15.5 billion takeover by 21st Century Fox would be against the public’s interest. Fox is now in talks with Walt Disney Co on the sale assets that would include the Sky shareholding.

(BusinessDesk)