The Dow soars 350 points as investors cheer retail sales growth

Image for article titled The Dow rebounds as investors cheer retail sales and earnings — and ignore Iran-Israel tensions — Photo: Brendan McDermid (Reuters)

The Dow Jones Industrial average surged more 350 points shortly after markets opened Monday morning, as investors ignored Iran’s weekend aerial attack on Israel and invested focused on strong retail sales data and earnings. The rebound followed a selloff last week.

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After jumping 372 points, or 0.9%, shortly after markets opened, the Dow had given back most of those gains by late-morning to trade up just 61 points, or 0.1%, to 38,044. The S&P 500 was flat and the Nasdaq was down 0.2%.

Retail sales spike

Markets got a boost from the latest economic data, as retail sales rose by 0.7% in March — indicating robust demand consumer despite stubbornly elevated inflation.

The retail sales data came a week after a hotter-than-expected inflation report last week dashed hopes that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates this year — and sent stocks sinking.

Goldman Sachs beats expectations

Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs released its first quarter earnings report Monday morning, beating Wall Street expectations. It came after other big banks saw their stocks fall Friday despite earnings that beat analysts’ expectations.

Goldman Sachs reported earnings of $11.58 per share, compared to expected earnings of $8.54 per share. The company’s revenue increased by 16% to $14.21 billion, exceeding the expected revenue of $12.92 billion.

Goldman Sachs stock was up about 4.2% in Monday morning trading.

Ease in oil prices

Oil prices dropped unexpectedly despite the Middle East tensions. A barrel of U.S. benchmark oil dipped 70 cents to $84.96, while the international standard, Brent crude, dropped 68 cents to $89.77.