Articles > Market Commentary > Stocks Up as More Q1 Earnings Released

Stocks Up as More Q1 Earnings Released

Published on Apr 22, 2015 By Aaron Phillips By Aaron Phillips

In trading today, all three major markets were up as companies continued to report their Q1 earnings to shareholders and Wall Street. The Dow rose 88.68 points to close at 18,038.27. The NASDAQ was up 21.07 points to 5,035.17. The S&P 500 lead in real gains, growing 0.51%, or 10.67 points, to close the day at 2,107.96. In overseas trading, yesterday's trends continued and Asia rose while Europe fell. Japan's Nikkei grew by 227.35 points, and Germany's DAX fell by -71.77 points.Fast-food giant McDonald's ( MCD ) released a difficult Q1 earnings report today if you're a Big Mac fan. The company's profits fell by nearly 33% as the business struggles with branding, public relations, and issues their with senior executives. Still, the company has brought in new blood and is open to trying new ideas in order to increase revenues, and that appears to be enough to keep shareholders happy this quarter. In trading today, McDonald's actually posted gains. The company grew by 2.97 points per share to close the day at $97.84.In a similar situation, and in the same sector, Chipotle's ( CMG ) Q1 earnings lead to much different results. Rather than shareholders rallying behind the company, Chipotle's investors sold their stock as fast as they could after today's earnings miss. The company's share prices fell 7.41%, or -51.29 points, to end the day's trading at $641.23.In keeping with the theme of a booming health services sector, hospital holding company St. Jude Medical ( STJ ) did so well for themselves this quarter that they've set a record high. Their stock prices shot up 6.41% on the news that they would beat their Q1 earnings target, gaining 4.43 points to close at $73.55 per share.After a difficult few years , things are beginning to look up for Coca-Cola ( KO ). The company has recently had to scrap plans for a new bottling plant in India, but sales are strong enough that they've beat expectations. Coke shares gained 0.53 points on the news and closed the day at $41.31. Although the gains were modest, this could be the beginnings of a turnaround against the latest 3-month downward trend.The Russian economy is in shambles, and their government has a reputation for being willing to try just about anything to turn it around. Recently, the Russian oil refining overseer Gazprom has been accused by its counterpart in the EU of fixing prices. Since Russian oil fuels some of the EU as well as much of Eastern Europe, cheaper oil from Siberia could bring costs down even further this summer.